Blossoming Cherry
by Ataraninja
Summary: Thinking she was too weak, Sakura did not become a ninja. When Sasuke gives her a gift to inspire her, will it cause other things to bloom between them? sakusasu read for the goodiness of love!
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. That's all I need to say, because I don't own him or any of his friends from the manga.**

**Intro: Okay, I'd just like to clarify that by the title, "Blossoming Cherry" I do not mean it in the sexual related way. This is a Sakura centric fanfic and her name means Cherry blossom so I just flipped it to be Blossoming Cherry. Phew glad that's over.**

**Other notes are that in this Prologue, Sakura is 8 years old and in the normal chapters she is 13. This is an AU although it uses only the Naruto characters as of now, the bad events that happen in the regular manga, such as Sasuke getting the curse seal, do not happen. However there will still be some of the same storyline as the show so as not to completely confuse you.**

_**Prologue**_

_Dear Diary,_

_I wake up and eat breakfast everyday like the other kids while some leave their homes early to go to the ninja academy. That blonde-haired girl always chases after the emo kid and the white eyed girl must be an Indian or something because every time she's around that demon boy, her face looks like someone with really bad sunburn. They are all becoming ninjas and I wish I was stronger so I could be one but I can't even win a race against my fat cat. I wish I could find a place where I belonged._

I look up from my diary and watch the academy students quiz each other and spar and I get a longing feeling in my heart. The black-haired emo guy had just beaten the demon boy in a shuriken dart contest and was walking my way.(a/n I couldn't think what to call it so this is what you get. They play darts with shuriken instead of regular darts. It's training.)

I attempted not to stare as he walked over and jumped into the tree above my head with a satisfied smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes at his cocky attitude and then continued writing in my diary.

He was quiet for a while until he jumped back down from the tree and stood only inches in front of me. "Isn't it childish to keep a diary?" he asked in a cocky voice.

"If you're an emo jerk, it is," I retorted. He kept his same facial expression for a while before saying in a less cocky voice, "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. What's your name?"

"Oh, now you're gonna be nice." In a sweeter voice I replied, "Haruno Sakura." He looked at me for a while I was writing in my diary, a childish thing by emo standards, and snorted.

"If you want to be a ninja you can. Besides cats are fast creatures," he said, making me realize that he'd been reading my diary.

"How dare you read my diary?! Jerkface!" I exclaimed.

I rushed away from the park, leaving the smirking Sasuke to soon have his smirk washed away by a blonde girl hugging him. When I got home, I thought about what he'd said. _Could I be a ninja?_

_**Haven't we been through this? You aren't strong enough. Maybe you should practice so you could get that hot emo guy.**_

_Never, ninja is not me. Nobody in my family is a ninja and my mom wouldn't approve._

_**Who gives a shit about your mom?**_

_Stop talking like that, and I do._

_**I'm just your inner self and obviously you have issues because you're just standing in the middle of your living room having a conversation with yourself.**_

_Shut up._

_**Fine.**_

I looked around and I was in my living room. _I hate you_, I thought and got a tongue stuck out at me in return. I took a shower and went to bed early without dinner. I wasn't really hungry anyways.

…one week later…

Everyday was the same. I woke up, got dressed, sometimes I ate breakfast, ran around the park, ate lunch, wrote in my diary at the park, ate dinner, and then went to bed. I was getting used to my boring routine until one day the cycle was ruined.

Uchiha Sasuke didn't have any competitions with Naruto as he'd said once as being demon boy's name. Instead, today, he walked straight over to me with a weird wrapped thing in his hands. "Hello Sakura."

"Hi Sasuke." He looked at my neutral expression for a while before saying, "Um…I've brought you something. I think you could be a great ninja if you tried. I don't need this anymore and maybe if you can learn how to use it you'll consider trying to become a ninja." He handed me the strange slightly curved wrapped thing. He walked away before I could thank him.

When I opened the package he'd given me, I gasped. It was a pirate's cutlass with a shiny black onyx hilt and the handle was wrapped in a white bandage for comfort. There were brilliant red rubies set into the hilt. The larger one at the base of the blade and on the top of the hilt had three black shapes in it, where the smaller one on the bottom of the hilt had two of the strange marks.

I thought, _This must be really valuable_, as I wrapped it back up and started walking home.

_**Ahh…the hottie emo guy likes you—us. I can't believe that you didn't even say anything to him like, I don't know: I love you!!**_

_Shut up and I do not, he's weird._

_**But hot.**_

_He's still weird._

_**And hot.**_

_Weird._

_**Hot.**_

_Weird and freaky._

_**Hot and sexy.**_

_You are such a pervert._

_**I'm just the other side of you that um…cares about boys!**_

I decided that I would ignore her to end the conversation and Inner Sakura was trying to kick my brain until I gave in but I'd completely tuned her out by the time I was ready to go to bed. I had hid the precious weapon under my bed and I turned the lights off and went to sleep.

_Dear Diary,_

_It's been a week since Sasuke gave me the sword. Every night I take it out and examine the black hilt, it makes me think about ninjas. Why didn't I just try to be a ninja? I've stopped going to the park in the afternoons now because the blonde-headed pig girl, who Sasuke tells me is Ino, was getting in my face about Sasuke ignoring her to come talk to me. Maybe she didn't notice that he ignored her before then anyways. Well, now I'm sitting on my bed with my cat in my lap being nosey but I don't think it matters. She can't tell anyone what's in my diary anyways. Well now I'm getting sleepy so goodnight._

I close my diary, turn off the bedside lamp and go to bed with my cat still rested on top of me.

**End: I stopped it here because of the note at the top that says: ** **in this Prologue, Sakura is 8 years old and in the normal chapters she is 13. The next part is when she is thirteen. I'm probably posting this prologue at the same time as the next chapter so no more comments. R&R for me will you?**


	2. Chapter 2 A Training Partner

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. That's all I need to say, because I don't own him or any of his friends from the manga.**

**Intro: Okay, I'd just like to clarify that by the title, "Blossoming Cherry" I do not mean it in the sexual related way. This is a Sakura centric fanfic and her name means Cherry blossom so I just flipped it to be Blossoming Cherry. It actually refers to the fact that she is blossoming as a fighter and a person. I know this is a repeat but I just want you people to understand.**

_**Chapter 2**_

It was quiet on this foggy morning, perhaps too quiet. But this was probably because of the fact that my alarm clock was broken and it woke me up at four A.M. I got out of bed anyways and walked to my closet taking off my night gown as I went. I took out a V-necked short-sleeved red shirt and a short pleated maroon skirt. I put on the shirt and the skirt, after grabbing some black skin-tight shorts to go under the skirt. Once I'd put the main garments on I grabbed the roll of bandages and wrapped them around my left hand and then my right lower leg. I reached into the drawer where the bandages had come from and grabbed my ruby red lipstick and put it on. Following that, I put some black mascara on. I looked in the mirror and thought, _Cute, I like my new look._

Reaching under my bed, I grabbed the precious cutlass given to me by Uchiha Sasuke. I could still remember that day when he'd given it to me. He told me to train and think about becoming a ninja. I hadn't become a ninja but I did train with the sword and I'd become quite skilled with it. I'd made a leather holster to carry it in around my waist also.

Of course, I'd also found that I had a gift for healing and I practiced all the time along with my sword training. It was weird how I found out. Whenever I first started training, I was clumsy and I tripped and cut my wrist on my own sword. It was bleeding badly and I held my hand to it in an attempt to stop the bleeding. When I let go, I found that I'd done more than stop the bleeding. The cut had completely disappeared and there wasn't even a scar. After that incident, I practiced healing myself every time I got cut or scratched and I found out that I was really good at it.

Once I was suited up, I opened the glass doors in my room and walked out onto the balcony and climbed over the metal fence and got on the ladder that I frequently used to sneak out. Once I was halfway down to the first floor of my house, I jumped down and landed on my feet, my arms stretched out to either side for balance.

I listened for a few seconds before I ran down the street and made my way to my training area surrounded by the trees. My feet made almost no noise and I managed to get to the training ground without being seen. I had set up dummies and half of them were sliced up already. I took my fighting pose and pretended I was fighting multiple enemies. I charged into three of them and slashed them with the pirate sword, spinning to attack the first two and then jumping over the second and dealing a swift blow to the third. When I jumped back away from the dummies all three of them fell over and a grin of satisfaction crossed my face before it was washed away by my own doubts. I sheathed my sword as I walked across the small clearing.

So far I'd only tested myself against sack dummies that didn't even move. I went and sat on an oak log beside a tree and looked at the dummies that I'd cut down. What was the point in training like this? Oh, yeah. I have to prove to myself how strong I really am. I found myself dozing off as I leaned against the tree behind me and I failed to notice when someone walked up to me. I didn't realize there was anyone there until he sat on the log beside me.

"You're really protected here aren't you?" he said making my head snap around to face the stranger. I relaxed when I realized who it was.

"Sasuke, you startled me," I said playfully. In a more serious tone I asked, "Have you been watching me?"

"Yes. You've been training I suppose?" he answered.

"I have ever since you gave me the sword. It doesn't do much good though since all I ever do is beat up dummies."

"It sure appears that it's helped. At least you're able to wield the sword in the first place," he replied and I nodded. In a more relaxed tone he asked, "Whatever happened to that girl that spent her afternoons under a tree writing in her diary and dreaming about ninjas?"

The tone of his voice was strange to me but I replied in a softer tone also. "I don't know really. I guess that girl is gone. She's been replaced by this girl." I tried to look tougher but Sasuke's gaze made me look down to hide my red cheeks.

Amused, he replied, "No she's still there. You're just hiding her away from the world."

"And is there some compassionate, emotional guy beneath your mask that you hide from the world?" I responded looking back at him with an equally amused look on my face.

"Maybe. He's just never felt like showing himself to anyone before," he replied.

_**Ooo…he is so flirting with you!**_ Inner Sakura screamed.

_I know, now pipe down._

_**Why? He can't hear me!**_

_I know. I just don't feel like listening to you._

Inner Sakura narrowed her eyes at me and poked out her tongue.

"So what _Great _ninja missions have you gone on?" I asked trying to keep Sasuke beside me for as long as possible.

"Most of them have been stupid, like for instance, walking dogs or cleaning bathrooms. We did go on one mission to protect this bridge-builder dude and we got to fight some missing nins," he explained in a bored tone as if ninja missions were definitely not cool at all.

"Oh. Well did anything funny happen? Who are your teammates?" I asked trying not to sound too excited about hearing his news.

"Naruto's on my team and there's this other dude that likes to talk about the size of Naruto's penis. Personally I find him very gay although he's really good at insulting Naruto. Oh and Naruto got drug off by the dogs."

"Wow, I guess that even when the missions are stupid you still have a lot of fun then huh?" I asked with a sad tone to my voice.

"I guess so. But it's also kind of boring sometimes. I've always got to listen to Naruto and Sai fighting with each other and then Kakashi tries to break them up. We're quite an awkward team if you ask me," Sasuke said and I was starting to wonder what happened to the emo guy that never spoke a single audible word. This was certainly not him that was for sure.

_**I know what you mean. He is totally not the same guy you see during the daytime. What is he like some nocturnal beast that can only talk when the sun isn't up or something?**_ Inner Sakura asked.

_No clue. I've never seen him talk to anyone before_, I responded.

_**Boys**_, that was all the response I got as Inner Sakura shook her head.

"Hey are you like in a trance or something?" Sasuke asked and I realized that I'd been staring off into space. My cheeks turned red at this very moment.

"No, I'm not," I said once I was relaxed again.

"Hey, why don't you spar with me so I can see if you're any good?" he asked turning back to his normal tone.

"Uh, okay…" I started and Sasuke stood up and walked over to the center of the clearing. I followed him drawing my sword again as I turned to face him. "Whenever you're ready," I said and I got an immediate response of three shuriken being thrown at me. I watched them all very carefully, and with my sword I blocked all three of them. But he wasn't done yet. Another set of shuriken came flying at me and I blocked two of them with my sword and then jumped sideways to block the third, charging toward Sasuke at the same time.

As I went to attack him with the sword, he stopped it only inches away from his face with two kunai. The sword was caught at the very center of the X-shape that he'd made with the kunai to stop the attack, but in one swift movement I freed the blade and caught Sasuke off guard with a horizontal slash to the stomach which he almost dodged completely by jumping backwards. He was just too late though, and when I looked at him I noticed that he was bleeding from the shallow cut.

He refused to give up though and before I knew it, he'd disappeared and was standing behind me with a kunai to my throat. Despite the danger I was in, I couldn't help but notice that his body was pressed against mine and I could hear his heart beating fast from the adrenaline of the battle. As if he'd just noticed this as well, his heart rate suddenly shot up and I couldn't help but smirk.

He released me from his grip and replied awkwardly, "You're pretty good." At that very moment, he must have been attacked by a sharp pain from his wound because his hand went down and pressed against it.

"Um, are you okay?" I asked walking him over to the log and then I realized that I had one hand on his waist and he wasn't doing anything. _Maybe he just didn't notice_, I told myself.

_**Oh yeah, sure he didn't**_, was the reply I got.

"Uh, yeah. I'll be fine," Sasuke replied arrogantly. I shot him a look of disbelief and he sighed before allowing me to see the wound. _I guess I don't know my own strength_, I thought when I saw that I'd actually cut him pretty deep. _**Ooo, Abs, **_Inner Sakura replied when I pulled his shirt up.

I looked up at Sasuke to see that he was still rather calm, even though I'd just pulled up his shirt. I thought for sure that I'd seen him go off on Ino when she touched him, but he wasn't acting like that towards me, in fact he seemed to relax a little when I knelt down in front of him.

Remembering the times that I'd healed my own cuts and scratches, I focused my energy into my hand and raised it to his wound. At first my hand simply glowed but then a white light covered Sasuke's wound and it started to heal. It only took a few seconds for the wound to completely vanish and then I wiped the blood off with a rag. "There, all better," I said before standing up.

When Sasuke stood up, he had the most comical look of confusion on his face. "What?" I asked looking back at him with confusion in my eyes as well.

Recovering from his state of shock he asked, "Where'd you learn that?" I looked at him and then nodded my head when I realized what he was talking about. "To heal, you mean? I discovered it on my own. I kind of have a natural talent for it."

"Wow," he replied. "I never realized how talented you really were. You can fight and now you can heal too." I looked down in an attempt to hide my blush but I was certain he saw it because I could feel his smirk barreling into me.

Fixing his shirt, Sasuke stood up and held out his hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me up until I was standing in front of him. "Thank you Sakura," he replied before looking at the sky which was now growing brighter.

"I guess I better go before my mom gets worried," I said nodding my head as a goodbye and then walking away from the clearing. When I looked back I saw that Sasuke was just standing there watching me walk away from him and I smiled.

_**Was that natural chemistry floating in the air or was it just me?**_ Inner Sakura asked.

_Maybe but it's best to leave it at that, _I answered.

_**Why? **_She questioned me.

_This is Sasuke we're talking about remember. He doesn't like girls fawning over him. _

_**So you plan on winning him over the subtle way? **_

_Yes, trust me. It's better than Ino's way. You see how he treats her. _

_**Whatever…**_ Inner Sakura grumbled, disappointed.

By the time I got home, my mom was awake and fixing breakfast. "Out training I suppose?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," I answered lowering my head to hide my blush but obviously she noticed because she asked, "And you met Sasuke I suppose?"

"How'd you know?" I asked as if I'd been able to hide my antics. "Mother's intuition…and you're face is as red as a cherry." In a more forceful voice she asked, "When are you planning on telling him that you like him anyways?"

"Mom, it's not that easy. This is Sasuke Uchiha we're talking about, after all," I answered. I was so happy I could talk to my mother about boys. She acted as though she was that best friend that you can share everything with, and so I did.

"He's still a boy, Sakura. If he likes you, you should tell him. What could possibly go wrong?" she asked looking at me as she brought the breakfast over to the table. _**Humph, told you**_, my inner self said to me while crossing her arms to show her annoyance with me.

"I'm just…waiting for the right moment."

My mother sighed, "If you wait too long, you might be too late. He could be gone before, honey. Trust me, I know," my mother said with a serious tone to her voice that managed to hush even my inner self.

"Really how?" I asked after constant prodding in my mind courtesy of Inner Sakura.

"Well, as you know I never married your father. When I got pregnant, I was so distraught because of the way my family would treat me that I failed to tell him how I felt. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to tell him and it seemed my frustration was worse when I was around him. I truly loved your father, but because I never confessed, he left and I've never seen him since."

Inner Sakura had tears bubbling up in her eyes and I did as well but then her crying stopped and she said, _**See I'm right! Your mom—our mom just proved it. You have to tell Sasuke or else the same thing might happen to you.**_

_I know I must tell him sooner or later—_

_**Sooner.**_

…_but I just don't know how._

_**It's like your mom said, if he likes you, it's worth the risk.**_

_And how can I be sure that he likes me?_

_**Trust me. I'm your conscience. He likes you.**_

_I hope your right…_

_**Then will you tell him?!**_

_Yes, the next time we train together._

_**And then get all mushy afterwards?!**_

_You'll find out when I tell him! _I said getting annoyed at the constant pressuring. Besides, why ask so many questions when she already knows my thoughts???

_**Ooo can't wait…**_

"Um, Sakura?" My mom asked looking at me funny and it occurred to me that during that whole time I'd been talking with my inner self, I'd been staring into space. "Are you okay, daughter?"

"Yes, I'm fine. You know what? You're right, I do need to tell him and I will, I promise. The next time we train together, I'll tell him."

"Pinky swear?" my mom asked holding out her pinky finger.

"Pinky swear," I said extending my own pinky and wrapping it around hers.

Of course, little did I know that the road to my confession was going to be a long and hard one…

**End: Oooo cliffhanger, and btw I'm so sorry for making you all wait this long, but I've had school and mom tying up my computer and all so I haven't gotten enough time to write on all of my stories. Oh and I would like for all of my readers to plz check out my stories **_**Lone Wolf**_** and **_**Night Walker**__**Lone Wolf **_**will have a sequel btw and I'll have a co-author helping to develop the storylines. It promises to be good….and evil.**


	3. Chapter 3 Compassion

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. If I did own Naruto, the characters would be in love with either Nickleback, Kelly Clarkson, or Avril Lavigne and since they obviously aren't….**

**Intro: I'm going to do another time skip soon and it will be a five year time skip making them eighteen. The reason I plan on doing this soon is because thirteen year olds normally don't have intimate love lives. However, it will be after at least one more chapter depending on how far I go with this one. So I will tell you at the beginning of the chapter if it's time for the time skip.**

_**Chapter 3**_

After about two months of training with Sasuke over half of the time (the other times he was busy with ninja missions), I'd still been unable to express my feelings for him. Of course, Inner Sakura was still happy because it always seemed that we got to see more of Sasuke's skin than we did when he had his shirt on because in every session I managed to land a blow on him before we quit. I was improving as well and Sasuke had shown me some of the things they'd learned at the ninja academy about chakra. He also taught me the most basic jutsus: those that you needed to pass the academy. I'd learned about chakra and he helped me learn to control it. This morning I would continue my training on chakra control and Sasuke had promised it would be interesting.

I awoke at five o' clock this morning and got dressed in my usual attire: red shirt, maroon skirt with black shorts underneath, bandages on my left hand and right leg, and pulled my hair back with a maroon headband my mom had given to me. Grabbing my sword as I went, I walked out onto the balcony and climbed onto the rail. The two story drop was nothing for me anymore and I landed nimbly on my feet, checked my surroundings, and was off.

In less than five minutes I was at my training grounds. I looked around the clearing from the bushes and found that Sasuke was waiting for me: sitting on the log with one leg up and his arm rested on his knee, the other sat casually on the ground. He was turned slightly away from me and obviously wasn't expecting me here this early (I normally got to the grounds around six). I smirked and then carefully snuck around until I was behind him, my feet never making a sound. Once I was satisfied with my position, I drew and kunai and pounced on him, placing the small silver blade to his neck but as soon as I made contact "Sasuke" disappeared in a puff of smoke and I felt something cold on my neck. It was a kunai; however the position of it was what made me relax. The sharp edge was not touching my skin at all and that's when I sighed.

"Sasuke…You made a clone of yourself," I said in a voice that stated that it was completely predictable. Indeed it was predictable. He always made clones of himself to confuse me and sneak up on me. I'd have to think of a way to counter-confuse him one day…

"Did you think I'd seriously be that easy?" he asked in his monotone voice although I knew he was simply trying to hide the humor he'd found in my stupidity. He stood directly behind me with one arm wrapped around my neck holding the kunai to my throat and the other by his side while his left foot (same side as his arm with the kunai) was between my legs which wasn't exactly the best place to be considering that a thirteen year old whose a virgin shouldn't have such dirty thoughts. He let me go but did not move away from where he stood, nor did I for that matter. This position was actually quite desirable. I could hear his heart beating, and oddly enough it was faster than it should have been considering that we'd not been in an intense training session yet. I couldn't help but smile to myself.

Then suddenly the moment was over and Sasuke backed away abruptly. That was when I realized that his leg had been holding me up because I began to fall backwards and before I could do anything, I felt Sasuke's strong hands loop under my arms and catch me. I looked up to him and blushed violently. He just smirked at me before standing me up and walking into the clearing. I followed close behind wondering what that little gleam was that I'd seen in his eyes. Perhaps it was him being perverted because of the influence of Kakashi or maybe, just maybe, he had liked holding me like that.

_**Petty, petty girl…Can't you tell that he likes you? And I'm mad with you because you promised to tell him and you still haven't done so. Do you want to end up like your mother or what?!**_

_I'm sorry. It's just that it's hard to talk to him about that…_

_**Well then skip talking and start acting! **_

_I don't want to get rejected though…_

_**If he likes you as much as you know he likes you, the compassion would be greatly appreciated by the boy.**_

_You're right._

…Normal POV…

Inner Sakura was satisfied, for now, at Sakura's submission and she decided to retreat to the depths of the cherry blossom's mind. And while she was having a conversation with her inner self, little did she know that the raven haired Uchiha was having his own conversation with his perverted inner self.

_**You had her in your arms, man. That was the perfect moment so why didn't you use it?**_

_Because, unlike you I'm not stupid. If I would have done that Sakura would hate me forever._

_**No, man. Trust me she would fall into your arms like she just did only this time it wouldn't be accidental.**_

_I can't be with her when my brother is still out there, alive and well. If he even found out that I had feelings for her, he'd probably kill her just to torture me._

_**Not if we kill him first. I guess you can wait until after you've gotten stronger and then you can protect her yourself.**_

_At least now we're on the same track._

"Um, Sasuke?" Sakura asked looking at him with a quizzical look on his face. Realizing that she'd been watching him he looked down, his cheeks burning red. Once he'd regained his composure he managed to look back at her face, that beautiful face and emerald eyes that plagued his very dreams and sent him into a wistful Itachi-free universe. The depth in her gorgeous emerald eyes intoxicated the boy and he couldn't seem to stop staring.

…Sakura's POV…

Sasuke was staring intently at my eyes and to be frank, it was scary! I'd never seen him so dazed before and it seemed that the meer locking of our eyes had gotten unrivaled emotional results from the Uchiha. "Sasuke?" I asked again causing him to snap out of his daze.

"Oh, uh-uh s-sorry," he stuttered making me giggle a little bit. "What?"

"Nothing…nothing at all," I said as I finished giggling. "So we came here to train? You know, if we waste any more time we won't get anything done."

"Right."

So then we began my training. Sasuke showed me an exercise that Kakashi had used to teach him, Naruto, and Sai how to walk up trees with their feet. He scaled the tree easily and then rested on a high limb. "This is your goal. Make it up to here and I'll reward you…somehow."

"Oooo presents! I like the sound of that," I said as I started attempting to scale the tree and reach the branch Sasuke was perched on. I remembered how I'd been able to focus my chakra into my hands to heal Sasuke's wounds and I figured that this must be similar. After a couple of tries I finally got it and I ran up the tree and then jumped onto the branch where Sasuke sat.

"Wow, that was fast! You're really good at chakra control. Ha, it took me and Naruto about a week to finally get it right."

"Okay so what's my reward?" I asked looking into Sasuke's onyx eyes.

"Well…I didn't have time to think of one because you finished so quickly," he replied looking down at his hands which braced him on the branch.

…Sasuke's POV…

"Well, why not the first thing that comes to mind?" Sakura asked me innocently. If only she knew what things came to my mind first…but that would be too rash and unexpected, no I'd have to settle for the next thing.

_**Kiss her, **_my inner self told me.

_But—_

_**No, trust me on this one. She wants you to, look at her posture.**_

Indeed Sakura was leaning toward me slightly with and expectant look on her face, that beautiful face which every bone in my body just yearned to touch. If only I could, if only Itachi was dead I could have Sakura for myself without his constant threats.

_**Forget about him and focus on you for a second. Come on, I'm your inner self. I know every desire you have, both mind and body…**_

_Okay._

"Well, if you insist Sakura…" I said, leaning in nearer to her. I had just started to reach my hand up to caress her face when---"HEY SASUKE! Don't you remember that we have an early tr—." Naruto's words were cut off when he realized that Sakura was in the tree with me and the position that we were in. "OH MY GOD!"

"Shit!" I cursed. "I'm sorry Sakura, maybe some other time, the dobe just had to interrupt." The last part I added with an evil deathly tone to my voice.

"But—uh Sasuke, I…uh…hmm, nevermind. Goodbye."

…Sakura's POV…

"Bye Sakura," Sasuke said with regret as he jumped down from the tree and smacked Naruto on the head as he walked out of our training clearing.

When I jumped down I could only stare and watch them leave with a sorrowful look on my face. _** THAT STUPID LITTLE BLONDE-HAIRED DORK! It's official, I hate him. He just totally ruined it, I mean Sasuke was about to kiss us and then—BAM!!!**_

_Calm down, we'll have our chance. You heard him, he'll come back and when he does he'll finish what he started._

_**Oooo that sounds so dirty..,**_ Inner Sakura said drumming her fingers together with a perverted/evil look on her face.

That morning, I went home trying to be hopeful of what the next session with Sasuke might bring. When I got home, I ate breakfast and at noon lunch. After lunch, my mom said that she needed some groceries and asked if I could go pick some up for her. She gave me the money and I left quickly. Then on my way to the store, I bumped into some strange characters, NO I _literally_ bumped into them. You see, this kid had gotten on my nerves by calling me ugly and so I chased him and then I kind of literally ran into this guy in a black suit with purple face paint all over me. My body tried to quiver but I decided that I wouldn't let it.

"Hey watch it you little punk!" the guy in the suit said to me holding the boy, Konohamaru was what Naruto had said as being his name, up by his collar. I quickly got to my feet and looked at him. Clearly he was a ninja, as indicated by the forehead protector. The symbol was strange to me though, an hourglass shape, so I knew he was from a different village. I knew there was no way I could stand up against him considering that a) I was not a ninja and b) I didn't have my sword. So therefore, my only hope was for a miracle.

"Please sir, could you put him down?" I said in a strong enough voice so that it didn't seem that I was pleading but nor did I seem threatening. "It was just an accident."

He took one look at my small form and said, "Well normally I would for a hottie like you but I'm just not in a good mood right now so I don't think so."

_Oh great, he isn't going to comply_, I thought as I prepared for a battle. Sure I had no weapons but I could surely punch him, considering how deadly accurate my punches were. But then I sensed a familiar chakra presence, one so close to me that I recognized it immediately. Suddenly a rock came soaring through the air and hit the boy in black on his hand making him drop Konohamaru in order to grab his hand which was now throbbing in pain. The deadly accuracy of the shot only confirmed my recognition of the chakra. It belonged to no other than Sasuke Uchiha, the same Sasuke that only a few hours earlier was about to embrace me in a passionate kiss if not for the foolish Naruto.

After a short exchange of words between Kankuro, the boy in black, Temari, his sister with the blonde hair, Sasuke, and a mysterious third visitor named Gaara, we were all ready to leave but not before a short show down between Gaara and Sasuke. Gaara had threatened me when I made a comment about weird sand ninjas and Sasuke had jumped down in front of me to protect me from the sand user. Naruto sulked behind us, of course.

"Don't insult our village," Gaara had said with a threatening tone.

"Don't even think about hurting Sakura then," Sasuke retorted activating his Sharingan as he prepared to fight.

"Ah…a fight is what you wish for…" Gaara's eyes flashed like a maniac's for a second. Sasuke didn't notice but I saw the killer intent in the sand boy and I gently grabbed Sasuke's wrist as it was reaching for a kunai. He looked at me as if trying to command me to release his hand so that he could protect me but I shook my head.

"Don't do it Sasuke. I see a killer's intent in that boy's eyes. He's stronger than you, I just know it. If you fight him,…well just please don't fight him," I whispered to Sasuke.

"Hahahahahahaha. Would you look at that? That girl doesn't even appreciate your protection, but then again what protection can a broken Uchiha provide?" Gaara said taunting Sasuke with threats about what could happen to him and something about the way I said it made me believe fully that he was capable of making those threats become reality.

Sasuke stiffened but his arm relaxed and he put his arm around my waist and led me away from the crazy sand kid. Naruto, of course, just started pouting even more when he saw the way Sasuke held me close to him and the position of his hand. He decided to simply turn the other way and leave us alone (MIRACLE!!!).

Once we were far from everyone else, we made a sharp turn and went to our training grounds for some private time. It only took a few minutes to get there and once we did I immediately went and sat down on the log, followed shortly by Sasuke who sighed softly. I looked down. I hadn't meant to upset him by what I said but obviously he'd taken it pretty hard.

"Thank you for protecting me, Sasuke," I said in a quiet voice as I lifted one leg over the log to sit facing Sasuke.

"No, you protected me. I acted stupidly and I could've been killed, then I'd never get to prove myself to you."

"But what do you have to prove Sasuke? I like you the way you are and nothing will change that."

"Sakura,…I never got to give you your reward before…I guess I should now," Sasuke mumbled out as he pulled me closer to his body and his right hand pulled my face closer to his, softly caressing my cheek until our lips met. From that second on, I couldn't remember anything that had happened earlier and all of the tensions just vanished. As Sasuke's tongue gently caressed mine and his lips massaged my own, all I could do was return the favor.

After what seemed like a century, we finally broke apart, and I found myself sad at the emptiness and the sheer cold of the wind on my lips instead of Sasuke's lips on mine. By that time I'd scooted even farther down and now I sat in Sasuke's lap with my right leg stretched completely across his lower body and the other stabilizing me on the other side of the log. I could hear his heart beating fast at the adrenaline and passion of our kiss and I couldn't help but smile at my progress. Also, from my position in his lap, I could feel something else, something that sat quite pleasantly on my upper thigh and seemed to comfort me more than anything.

"Sakura…I-I…" Sasuke started before I put a finger to his lips.

"You don't need to say a thing..," I whispered in his ear before leaning in to kiss him again.

**End: Okay so I'll just end it here so as not to make a super long chapter. Well, Sasuke was way OOC but I don't really care since it ****is**** an AU and it ****is**** my story, besides there's no way to have romance with Sasuke ****in**** character. Okay so plz R&R and if u don't like my stories don't review because I'm sick of ANONYMOUS reviewers sending me flames. If you're going to flame me, at least be brave enough to send a SIGNED review so that I can see if you're any better. Luckily I haven't gotten any flames on this story but I did on some of my others so haters can just ****take something and shove it where the sun don't shine.**


	4. Chapter 4 Promises Then Danger!

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. ****If I did there would be much more romance and Sakura and Sasuke would be dating.**

**Intro: ****I'm going to do another time skip soon and it will be a five year time skip making them eighteen. ****This time**** skip**** will probably occur after the next chapter**

_**Chapter 4**_

…Sakura's POV…

I awoke with a tingling feeling on my lips and I ran my finger over them. The sun was shining into my bedroom and its warmth reminded me of what happened yesterday. After those sand nins had tortured Konohamaru and I stood up to Kankuro, Sasuke rescued me from the crazy black-wearing, painted faced ninja and we went to our training grounds. There I'd had my very first kiss and it was the greatest experience ever. Sasuke was so gentle with me and I felt as though I could simply melt, but then I had to leave to get my mom's groceries and we promised to meet back at the training grounds sometime during the week. When I asked why we couldn't meet today, he said that he had to train for the chuunin exams. The last thing he said before he left was, "I really wish you were there to take them with me Sakura." I could almost cry when he said this but I refused to shed tears in his presence.

Then we'd parted ways and I got my mom's groceries then went home. When I got home I was humming a love song under my breath and my mom looked at me with a smile on her face. "What happened?" she'd asked. "Nothing," I said as I continued to hum and I gave her the groceries. "You told him, didn't you?" she asked walking over to look at me. "Yes, and he kissed me!" I finally exclaimed. "Oh, Sakura…I'm so happy for you!" my mom said as she hugged me. Then she'd fixed dinner and we ate, took our showers, and went to bed.

"Sakura! Breakfast is ready!" my mom called interrupting my trail of memories from last night. I got out of bed and went downstairs in my pajamas. When I went down my mom had two plates of an omelet and bacon. I ate breakfast and then went off to do my errands for the day.

A whole week went by and I didn't see Sasuke once at my training sessions, but this morning I woke up early and got to the training field. I was sharpening the kunai Sasuke had given me when I heard someone walk up. I looked up to see that no one was there and so I resumed sharpening the kunai. Then I felt someone's arms wrap around my torso and I sighed. "Surprise," Sasuke said weakly. I put the kunai down and stood up while he kept his hold on me. "Sorry, I broke my promise."

"It's okay, you were busy I'm sure," I said.

"Yeah, and I got hurt so I had to stay in the hospital for a while," Sasuke said as if it was no big deal.

Now I stood in front of him, his hands on my sides. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled me closer until our lips met and we shared another passionate, yet gentle, kiss. Sasuke's strong hands hold me close to him and our bodies were pressed against one another. Finally we broke apart for a breath and Sasuke looked into my eyes and smirked.

"What?" I asked looking at him with a confused expresson.

"Well, your eyes show so much emotion and right now I can totally read you," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Oh yeah, and what do you see?" I asked cocking my head to the side.

"Well I can't tell you unless you beat me," he said letting me go and walking out into the middle of the clearing. Curious as to what he saw in my eyes, I followed him.

First we simply stood there in the middle of the clearing, each taking a fighting pose. I drew two kunai, holding one in each hand. Sasuke had a shuriken between each finger making him have a total of eight shuriken in his hands. "Go!" he said suddenly as he shot the shuriken at me. Remembering some of the techniques he'd shown me, I dodged them by jumping back while releasing my own weapons. I landed in the bushes behind where I had been before. I quickly made a plan as to how I'd fool him.

…Sasuke's POV…

Sakura disappeared into the bushes and I waited for her to come out. I knew what she was doing. She was trying to concoct a plan to trick me and then win against me. I wouldn't use my stronger techniques on her but I knew that I'd have to figure out something before she attacked. I'd taught her how to do the Substitution Jutsu, Clone Jutsu, and Transformation Jutsu, the most basic of ninja jutsu. Sakura was smart, though. She could take those three jutsus and put them into her mental calculator and come up with a million possible attack plans.

Before I could figure out what she might do, I saw her jump out of the bushes and throw a kunai at me. I jumped to the side to dodge it but then another attack buffeted me from the side and I jumped up into the air to block the attack. When I came down, I charged Sakura and threw my own kunai at her. For a moment I panicked, I'd hit my mark! But then she poofed away and I sighed in relief. Another attack from my left caught my attention and I jumped over the kunai just in time and threw my own at Sakura, who'd appeared from behind the bushes. The next thing I knew I felt someone's weight crash down on me from above, pinning me to the ground and leaving me trapped beneath her.

I looked up at my captor only to see the face of Sakura looking down at me, a mischievous glint in her eyes at the position she was in. Indeed, this was a bit awkward. I could only hope that Naruto or Kakashi didn't come up to see Sakura sitting on top of me rested somewhere just below my waist, and leaning over to look at me.

"I won Sasuke, so now you have to tell me what you saw. Otherwise, I could seriously injure you for life," she said and to make her point perfectly clear she shifted on my body making my eyes fly open wide. For a second, I wasn't sure if I could talk because of the action that she'd just made, but when I saw her reaching for her kunai holster (a/n he gave one to her when he gave her the kunai) I spoke up.

"You want to know what I saw?" I teased.

She replied by putting her hand on the holster.

"The same thing I see now," I said as I used my ninja speed to flip her over on her back. Now I hovered over her small form like a predator over his prey. I caressed her cheek and got closer to her face as I finished in a nearly inaudible voice, "A deep, needy feeling. You need me. And the funny thing is…"

At this point I sat up and pulled her up with me to sit in my lap. I pulled her face closer to mine, teasing her with my touch as I said, "I need you just as much as you need me." Sakura's eyes widened at this but she quickly entered a blissful state as our lips met once again. This time I wanted it to mean something and I made sure to use a little more force with her, pressing against her with more force and in a more assertive manner than before. She moaned a little bit, a sign of her pleasure, a sign that she wanted more. I pulled away to take a breath before bending down to kiss her exposed neck. She pulled away from me a little bit and I looked at her.

As if to ensure that I didn't get the wrong meaning, she leaned into me and slowly brought her lips up to mine again. She was softer than I was though and she didn't try to establish herself as the boss and easily gave in when I returned her kiss with more force. After a while, she finally got tired and leaned into me, making me lay down. She laid down beside me and scooted closer to me so that I could hold her.

"Sasuke…" she said in a soft voice.

"Hn?" I asked just to annoy her.

"Will you ever leave me? Alone, I mean. You wouldn't leave would you?" she stuttered to get out what she was trying to say.

"Sakura…"

"I understand that your missions take you away from me, but…you wouldn't just leave, right?"

"No, Sakura. I promise that I won't leave you. If I do, you have my permission to hate me for the rest of your life," I said making it clear that I would not even think about leaving her.

"I could never hate you Sasuke. I-I…hmm," she started but found herself unable to finish her sentence.

"I know Sakura. You like me too much to ever hate me," I said pretending to not understand what she meant.

"N-yeah…I like you too much," she said stopping herself from disagreeing with me.

"Just like I like you too much to leave you," I said looking down at her with a twinkle in my eye at my underlying meaning. When she looked at me, she smiled and I knew that she'd gotten my meaning as well.

…Sakura's POV…

_I wonder if he really knew what I was going to say and was acting or if he really thought that's what I meant_, I thought to myself.

_**Ahhh….Sasuke's such a great kisser**_, my inner sighed.

_Pervert_, I said accusing her.

_**Hey! Of course he understood, cuz not only is Sasuke sexy and hot, he's also smart! He knew what you **__**meant;**__** he just didn't want to embarrass you.**_

_Okay then…If that's what you think, then I guess you're right._

I looked at Sasuke. He _was_ sexy and he understood me. He was perfect… "Hey, Sakura. I've got to go train with Kakashi now to prepare for the final part of the chuunin exams," he said, interrupting my thoughts.

"Oh, okay. Hey, when are the finals of the chuunin exams?" I said.

"In a month. I've got to train hard because I'll be fighting Gaara."

"You mean that freaky sand kid with the red hair?!" I asked panicking. "Sasuke, he'll kill you!"

"No Sakura, he won't. I know what I need to do to defeat him and Kakashi is going to teach me a new technique that will help me defeat him. I promise he won't kill me."

"Okay, Sasuke. I trust you…so don't let me down." I stood up once I finished speaking and Sasuke quickly followed. When I started to walk away, he stopped me by grabbing my arm gently. He pulled me closer to him and I stood with my chest against his as a smirk played over his lips.

"I promised remember. I always keep my promises, especially my promises to you," he said leaning in toward me to kiss me on my cheek. "And you know what, I promise that when I beat Gaara, you'll be the first one I celebrate with."

"What if you lose?" I asked looking up at him.

"Then you'll be the first to visit me in the hospital," he answered with a smirk.

My eyes widened and I said, "Don't say things like that to scare me!" And I playfully punched him in the chest, but it felt like I'd punched a rock and he didn't even flinch.

When I looked up at him with a perverted look on my face he said, "I didn't mention how I'd celebrate though, did I? Okay, I've got to go now."

"Bye Sasuke," I said as he walked away and then I walked toward my house.

…About a month later… (Right so, its time for the final part of the chuunin exams)

…Sakura's POV…

I sat in the stands as ninja crowded in around me. I hoped they wouldn't recognize me, though, because that would be embarrassing. I was wearing my dark red top and pink miniskirt with shorts underneath it. I also had on a dark forest green jacket with pockets inside. This was the only way for me to hide my sword, which was sheathed and wrapped around my waist. I also had my kunai holster on my right leg hoping that if they noticed me they might take me for a ninja.

I watched eagerly as Naruto fought Neji and surprisingly won, Shikamaru forfeited his battle after he and Temari engaged in a strategic, low-energy battle, and Kankuro forfeited his battle before it even begun which was strange because Kankuro was a strong ninja. Then we waited and waited and finally, just before they gave up on Sasuke and called it a forfeit, he appeared with Kakashi.

_**Oooo…sexier than ever! Look at him! Look at him!**_

_Yeah, I'm lookin' Oh my god he is sexier than ever, well sexier than I've ever seen him SO FAR._

_**Mmm…I like the way you think, Outer Sakura!**_

Sasuke wasn't wearing his normal blue shirt and khaki pants. Now he wore straight black: black shirt, black shorts, and black things around his arms and legs. Black really was his color.

While everyone else cheered I was looking at Sasuke, Ino sulking behind me. I saw Sasuke look up at me and I could swear he was _smiling_. So this whole late thing was just a game, oh he would SOpay later.

I watched on the edge of my seat as Sasuke fought Gaara, the psychotic sand-user. Gaara had encircled himself in a hard dome of sand, so hard that Sasuke couldn't break through it. Then Sasuke jumped back and was on the wall of the battle arena. The next thing I knew, an electrical field of blue chakra was emitting from his hand and he charged down the side of the dome, leaving a huge gash where his attack made contact with the concrete. He ran at a blinding speed and at the last second, he thrust his hand forward and the lightning went through the sand barrier.

A piercing scream echoed through the air after a second or two and I knew that Sasuke's attack had gone straight through the barrier and hit its mark. (a/n Okay, here's where it veers from the anime plotline.) Before anyone could react, an arm of sand formed out of the dome of sand and flew straight toward me. I pumped chakra into my feet and jumped far away from the sand arm, but it followed me and I could not get away in time. The sand wrapped around me and then pulled me onto the battlefield where a stunned Sasuke watched in shock.

…Sasuke's POV…

When I hit my mark, I couldn't have been happier! I'd surely prove myself to Sakura and earn her complete respect. But then, after Gaara's scream erupted through the still atmosphere, he did the unthinkable.

A deep throaty voice erupted from the sand dome, "HAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU THOUGHT I DIDN'T KNOW HUH? I COULD TELL THE FEELINGS THAT YOU TWO HAD FOR EACH OTHER, AND NOW YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID! TODAY THE GIRL DIES!!!"

My facial expression changed just then. The total shock that I'd felt before turned into pure hatred. This sand demon was going to kill Sakura? I didn't think so! I charged up another attack and charged at the opposing character. He would not hurt Sakura in any way, shape, or form as long as I had a say in it, but even as I thought this the sand's grip on Sakura tightened.

Once again I landed a hit directly into the sand dome with my Chidori and another scream pierced through the air, but this time it ended in an angry growl. In the stands above us, another battle was going on. It seems that Sand and Sound were working together to destroy Konoha, Orochimaru was with the Hokage on top of the building where they'd sat. Aparently, Orochimaru had posed as the Kazekage in order to get to Sarutobi.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME FOOLISH UCHIHA?! THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO SAVE HER! I'LL SQUEEZE EVERY BIT OF LIFE OUT OF HER AND LET HER DIE SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY!"

"No. You will not kill Sakura because I won't let you," I said keeping my cool.

I'd seen the blood splatter when I'd hit him the second time and I knew that Gaara was injured, but this voice did not belong to Gaara. It was…demonic.


	5. Chapter 5 The Leaving Note

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. Can't you people tell by now that if I did Sasuke would die to protect Sakura no matter what curse seal thingy he had or whatever his goals were!!!**

**Intro: I'm going to do another time skip soon and it will be a five year time skip making them eighteen. Right so this chapter will conclude the rescue of Sakura from the clutches of Shukaku and hopefully the time-skip. By the way, I'm not all that good at fight scenes (just a warning)**

_**Chapter 5**_

…Sakura's POV…

All I could do was watch as that demonic presence that, by now, I'd concluded resided in Gaara like the Kyuubi in Naruto, tried to kill me. The sand was squeezing me so tight now that I felt as though I would die. Sasuke had hit Gaara a second time with his Chidori, and although I'd seen blood, it didn't seem to affect the demon at all. There just had to be a way to stop it.

I could see that Sasuke was trying to find out a way to save me from the grasp of the sand that was slowly squeezing my life away. I tried to think of something that I could do to help Sasuke but because of my own predicament, I could not move or even try to escape. I noticed that there was fighting going on in the stands above me. The Sound ninjas had dressed up as ANBU and now they'd started fighting with the jounins and other Leaf ninjas so no one was aware of our predicament. Well, except Naruto.

He saw that the sand had caught me and that Sasuke wasn't able to stop it from trying to kill me. He ran to Sasuke's aid and immediately surrounded Gaara with thousands of shadow clones while Sasuke used Transformation Jutsu to look like Naruto so that he would blend in. I could only pray that with him and the blonde demon-container put together that they'd be able to free me before it was too late.

…Sasuke's POV…

I just knew that the sand was wrapping even tighter around Sakura as I attacked Gaara along with all of Naruto's shadow clones. There was just no getting through that sand dome though. It was too strong and every time we hit it, needles of sand shot out and prevented a continuous onslaught of attacks. I couldn't let him kill her. But as we hesitated, Gaara started to transform. The dome disappeared as the sand twirled around him and when it cleared he looked like a mutated beast. Well, personally that's what I thought he was anyways but he looked even more like one than ever before.

(a/n Okay so Gaara has turned into that form that you see him in when he's got the one arm and half of his face turned into Shukaku or whatever, you manga readers know what I mean.)

The sand that wrapped around Sakura had stabilized itself in the air by forming a sort of arm that held her up, the arm coming out of the ground. Finally there was an opening!

I ran towards him with incredible speed (effect of training with Kakashi) drawing a kunai and slashing his stomach before his sand could react to my movements. He hissed in pain as Naruto attacked from the other side, cutting his side with a kunai while the sand was chasing me. We made a good team, Naruto and I, especially since neither of us was willing to let him kill Sakura.

I charged at him with amazing speed tackling into him and Gaara slid on the dirt, near unconscious. He changed back to his normal self and the sand finally released Sakura. Not allowing her to hit the ground, I caught my cherry blossom in my arms and held her close to me. She had long been unconscious, and she appeared more fragile than ever.

When I looked back to Gaara, his siblings had teleported to their brother's side and they took him away before we could do anything. I didn't care though, all that mattered was that Sakura was safe. "C'mon Naruto. We have to take Sakura to the hospital," I said looking down at her with concern in my eyes.

"Hai!" Naruto responded and we quickly headed to the hospital.

…Sakura's POV…

I awoke to see the bright hospital lights but when I looked over to my left I saw Sasuke sitting in a chair by my bed with his fingers interlaced and a concerned expression on his face. Also, I saw Naruto standing by my bed with an expression that was just as concerned as Sasuke's, even though I didn't even talk to Naruto.

"Sasuke…" I said and instantly the two males by my bed perked up (as much as Sasuke can perk up).

"Sakura-chan! Are you okay? That guy had you tr--." Naruto started but was interrupted by a happy Uchiha who tried to hide the excitement in his voice.

"She knows Naruto. So Sakura, how are you feeling?" Sasuke asked, laying his hand over mine which was opened and rested by my side on the bed.

"A little sore around my ribcage, but I'm fine," I said, trying to sit up. Sasuke stopped me and gave me a firm glare.

"Lie down Sakura. You've not completely healed. The nurse said that you had two broken ribs, you don't need to strain yourself," he said in a stern voice and I lied back down.

"Aww Sasuke, lay off will ya! Sakura will be fine; because you said yourself she was strong!" Naruto said defending me. Although I was okay with taking orders from Sasuke, it was kind of funny how Naruto behaved. We'd never spoken but maybe three words to each other, yet he acted as though he knew everything about me. Then again, how much did Sasuke talk about me?

"So Naruto…What else did he say about me?" I asked trying to pry. Sasuke's eyes widened and he looked at Naruto with an expression that said: "Please don't tell her, it will be so embarrassing."

"Well…I did catch him talking in his sleep one day, and he said that you were a great kisser and that you had a nice body and that he wishes he could—." Naruto said quickly but at this point Sasuke's hand flew to Naruto's mouth and he was silenced instantly as a blush appeared on the fearless Uchiha's cheeks.

"Leave us, Naruto," Sasuke said after taking his hand off of Naruto's mouth.

Naruto shrugged and said, "Okay. Bye Sakura-chan!" as he left out of the hospital room. Once he closed the door, Sasuke turned back around to face me.

"Has my mom come to visit?" I asked wondering if she'd even heard about it.

"Not yet. That's kind of surprising since you've been in here a whole day. I figured she would have come by now," Sasuke answered.

As if on cue, the door opened and a woman about five foot three inches tall with short brown hair tied in a ponytail came in. When she saw Sasuke she smiled but then turned to her daughter.

"Sakura, what happened? I just heard about it," her mom said.

"Well, I…uh. I went to watch Sasuke compete in the chuunin exams and then the guy he was fighting, who was some weird sand-wielding redhead caught me with his sand and tried to kill me by squeezing me to death but then Sasuke…and Naruto saved me and then Sasuke brought me to the hospital," I said in one breath making sure to get it out extra fast to try and make her miss something but it didn't work because she already knew of my tactics.

"Oh my God! He tried to kill you?! Why would he—?"

"It's my fault," Sasuke said cutting my mom off in the middle of a stream of endless questions, which I inwardly thanked him for. "He tried to kill her because I hurt him during our battle and he knew about my…feelings for your daughter, so he tried to use her being held hostage as an obstacle and a punishment. I'm sorry."

"Oh young man, no! It's not your fault, I get the feeling that this child you were fighting wasn't a very stable person in the beginning, probably a jinchuuriki like Naruto. Is Naruto like that Sakura?"

"No!" I corrected her quickly. "He's the exact opposite of Gaara."

"Wait, what? What's a jinchuuriki?" Sasuke asked.

"A jinchuuriki is--," I started.

"Someone who has a demon sealed inside of them. That Naruto kid has the Kyuubi inside of him, personally I feel sorry for him. You see, my generation wasn't supposed to tell our children about what he was or make them hate him but some of the parents did and he's always been by himself. Although…that Hyuuga girl seems to like him."

"Always my observant mom…Wait a sec. How do you know all of this about Hinata?" I said, quite frankly confused at her sudden insight of the situation.

"I passed by the ninja academy every day when they were there and her face was always redder than a cherry around that Naruto," my mom said quickly explaining herself. "So what did the doctor say?" she asked, changing subjects.

"I've got two broken ribs," I answered.

"You didn't talk to the doctor did you?" she asked.

"No, Sasuke told me what he'd said."

My mom turned to Sasuke and asked, "What did the doctor say?"

"He said that she had two broken ribs and that they might take a while to finish healing so she has to refrain from strenuous activity and get plenty of rest. He also gave me these pain pills that she has to take every six hours as needed," Sasuke said, thoroughly explaining what the doctor had told him.

"Thank you young man. Sasuke, right?" my mom said.

"Yes."

"Well, you can come over to see Sakura anytime you want," she said.

…A week later…

I awoke this morning to find myself back in my own bed. It was good to be home, to see my familiar red ceiling, feel my soft mattress beneath me, and smell the sweet roses that—wait, roses? I looked to my left and there, on my nightstand, was a vase of beautiful red roses. My mom came in and sat on my bed.

Before I could ask, my mom said, "Sasuke came by while you were sleeping and brought you some roses. He didn't want to wake you though so he just left them and asked me to tell you who'd sent them. He's a very nice boy."

I smiled while looking at the perfect roses. I could only imagine Ino's reaction when he bought them from her mother's flower shop.

"Well, come on, Sakura. Breakfast is cooked," she said as she got up from my bed and walked out of my room. I slowly swung my feet over the side of my bed and then walked downstairs in my pajamas. When I got downstairs, I ate breakfast with my mom while she talked about how cute Sasuke and I were together and other sorts of things about my relationship with the raven-haired Uchiha.

Then I went upstairs and got dressed. When I came back down, my mom held an envelope in her hands. It was sealed shut with a heart sticker and had "To: Sakura" written on the front. My mom handed me the letter and I took it looking at it confused.

I went and sat down on the couch while opening the white envelope. When I looked inside, there was a letter. I pulled out the letter, unfolded it and began to read its contents…

_Sakura,_

_I'm sorry that I'm breaking my promise to you, but that recent scare with Gaara showed me that I am not yet strong enough to protect you so I am leaving Konoha in order to gain the strength I need to protect you. In fact, by the time you read this letter I will be long gone. I've left Naruto in charge of watching over you while I'm gone. I know he may not seem like much, but I just know that he has untapped power within him. And Sakura, I know I couldn't say this before but the truth is that I love you, and when I return I will still love you just as much if not more. I hope that you can forgive me for leaving you because I really am sorry._

_Love,_

_Sasuke_

By the time I finished reading the letter I had tears in my eyes. Sasuke had promised he'd never leave but this Gaara that he'd fought who'd tried to kill me, made his thoughts change. He was gone and there was no telling how long it would take for him to get this strength that he thought he needed in order to protect me. Naruto, that blonde-haired teammate of his, was to be my guardian. No offense to Naruto, but I did not want Naruto as my guardian. I wanted Sasuke. _Damn you Gaara and your stupid inner demon for what you did to him._

My mother now sat beside me as tears fell continuously from my eyes and she hugged me, trying to comfort me but to no avail. The only thing that could comfort me was Sasuke. Without him, my life would be pointless, he was the reason I'd trained so hard, had become so strong, it was all for him. Now he was gone and there was no way to save me from my own depression except by the feeling of him close to me.

It had been three months since that incident now. Naruto and his sensei Jiraiya had went on a mission to find a woman named Tsunade because she was going to be the Hokage, since the Third was killed during the finals of the chuunin exams by Orochimaru. Naruto and I were eating ramen together and he was talking about a new mission he would be going on.

"Well, Sakura-chan, I leave tomorrow with Jiraiya-ero-seenin and we'll be gone for a long time probably. I'm sorry I have to leave but after training with you some, I can tell that now you're pretty much able to protect yourself. I'm sure you'll find someone to talk to while I'm gone," he said before stuffing some more noodles in his mouth.

I ate my ramen slower than he did while he continued talking. "Hey, Sasuke-teme said that you're a pretty good healer. You know, you might be able to get a job at the hospital and get trained by Tsunade-baa-chan!"

"Naruto, you know that she's the Hokage right? You're supposed the respect her and not call her 'Grandma' Tsunade. I guess it would be nice to have a job at the hospital and I'm sure I could learn a lot from Tsunade-sama."

"But it's fun to see her reaction! Now come on, before the end of the day you're going to ask Tsunade-baa-chan if she'll train you in medical ninjutsu. Sasuke also told me that he'd been training you to control your chakra and that you've completely mastered it, so there should be no problems," Naruto said as we finished eating and he placed the money on the counter and drug me out of Ichiraku's.

Before long we were at the Hokage tower and Naruto rushed through the gates passing some very confused guards. "Naruto, you can slow down you know!" I exclaimed as the blonde drug me along with him. However my plea did nothing to slow him down and in mere minutes we were at the front desk where Shizune sat filing papers and such for Tsunade.

"Hey Shizune! What's Tsunade-baa-chan doing? Sakura needs to talk to her," Naruto said making Shizune look up from her work.

"She's in her office, but…uh, hehe…you might not want to go in there," Shizune responded rubbing the back of her head.

"Why? Is Jiraiya-ero-seenin in there?" Naruto asked with a completely serious voice. Shizune's expression turned blank at that.

"No, Naruto. Actually, she's just had a lot of sake lately due to the stress and well…" Before she could finish, Naruto had drug me along as he ran to Tsunade's office. When he got there, he didn't even knock on the door as he drug me into her office with him.

"Who is it?" Tsunade asked in a somewhat slurred voice from her big chair which was turned away from us.

"It's me Naruto. Sakura has to ask you something," Naruto said making Tsunade turn around and look at Naruto and me.

"Yes, what is it?" she asked looking at me.

"Well I—."

"Sasuke told me that Sakura is a natural-born healer and that she's really good at it. Even though she's not a ninja, he's taught her chakra control and she mastered it perfect and now she wants to know if you could train her in medical ninjutsu and then maybe give her a job at the hospital," Naruto interrupted and then gasped for breath.

"Naruto, slow down. I'm pretty sure no one will die if you were to talk a little bit slower and breathe in between sentences," I said while his face, which had turned colors for a second there, returned to its normal color.

"Well…Sakura isn't a ninja?" Tsunade said looking at me skeptically. I was dressed in my form-fitting V-neck shirt, pink miniskirt with shorts underneath, had a kunai holster on my right leg, a sword hanging from my belt, and had well-toned arms, legs, and abs. I could see where she might think of me as a ninja.

"No, but she was training with that cutlass that Sasuke gave her ever since she was oh say, eight years old and she trained with Sasuke after we returned from one of our missions before the chuunin exams."

"Ooookay. Well, Sakura, how good are you at chakra control?" Tsunade asked.

"Sasuke said that I had perfect chakra control. I even tested my chakra control for walking on water and was able to do that perfectly," I answered blushing a little at my level of skill for someone who wasn't a ninja.

"Well…I think I just might be able to train you, Sakura. Meet me here tomorrow after Naruto leaves and we'll start your training," Tsunade said with a smirk on her face. By now, all traces of her drunkenness had disappeared and had been replaced with what seemed to be curiosity.

"Yes Tsunade-sama, and thank you," I said bowing quickly before exiting the room with Naruto close behind.

…The Next Day…

I stood with Naruto, Jiraiya, and Tsunade-sama as the rambunctious blonde prepared to leave. "Sakura-chan, I promise that if I see Sasuke, I'll tell him how much you miss him and make sure that he comes back, okay?" Naruto said making me smile.

I walked up to him and said, "Thank you and Naruto…I'll miss you, too." Then, I gave him a friendly hug before pulling his forehead protector off and kissing him on the forehead. "Hey, don't worry so much about getting Sasuke back as you do your training okay? Sasuke will come back, I know he will," I said before handing him his forehead protector which he quickly put back on his head before giving me a cheesy grin.

"Okay, Sakura. You're right; the teme wouldn't leave you for good." With that he turned and ran over to his sensei. Jiraiya waved to Tsunade before he led the way out of the gates with Naruto trailing close behind.

Once they were out of view, Tsunade put her hand on my shoulder, looked down at me, and asked, "So are you ready to begin your training?" I nodded my head and then we walked away from the gates of Konoha which, so far, had only given me sorrowful memories of friends that had left me in order to pursue their personal goals.

**End: Well I'm sorry to stop it here but the next chapter will skip to five years later and let me just say that after this time skip Naruto will have returned and the whole Gaara Rescue Mission will have taken place. Anyways, I will give the full summary of the five years events in the INTRO of the chapter. R&R plz and if u don't like, don't FLAME. I hate Flames becuz they're stupid, so no Flames plz.**

**Also I would like to thank you all for REVIEWS, STORY ALERTS, STORY FAVES, and so on. I thank you all and ur the greatest ppl ever 4 doing that. I hope that I can continue to please you guys. TaTa 4 now.**


	6. Chapter 6 Five Years Gone By

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. **

**Intro: Okay so this chapter will be occurring after a five year time skip. Do the math ppl, they're eighteen.**

**Summary of Five Years:**** Naruto returned after training with Jiraiya for two years, Sakura trained with Tsunade and has learned medical ninjutsu and the super-strong technique from Tsunade. When they go on the rescue mission, Tsunade sends Sakura along with Naruto and Sai for medical support. The whole rescue mission occurs as it did in the manga, with the exception that Sakura was kind of reluctant to go to the aid of the man who'd tried to kill her and had made Sasuke leave in the first place. **

**Now everyone is back home, and Sakura works at the hospital and sometimes aids Kakashi's team on their missions as the Medical Support. She is still technically not a ninja, although if she were, she'd be the same level as she was after the two year time skip in the manga. Now life is sailing smoothly for Sakura and she lives in her own house (she moved out of her mom's house when she turned seventeen). The only thing is that she still thinks about Sasuke and she wonders if he'll ever return like he said he would. It's been five years after all and a girl's patience can only hold out for so long.**

_**Chapter 6**_

…Sakura's POV…

It had been five years since Sasuke left, five years that I'd lived without being able to see him, to feel him near me. Every now and then I felt as though his spirit was with me, trying to comfort me, but it was only a feeling. Sasuke was far away from me, so far that even if he called me I couldn't hear him. I could still remember the day I'd shared my first kiss with him, how I wish that I could go back to that time and kiss him again.

I was foolish to think that he could remain in one place forever, though. I should have known from the beginning that the Uchiha avenger would never be satisfied with what he had. No, nothing would satisfy him until he'd killed Itachi and all of the threats to his peace and mine, of course.

That was what had made him leave in the first place. He wanted to protect me from whatever dangers might befall me if he wasn't there. He'd even went so far as to assign his best friend Naruto as my guardian when he left. The hardest thing for me to do, however, was go on that mission to save the very man that had caused him to leave in the first place. When we did save Gaara, I found that he had changed. He apologized to me (he's Shukaku-free now) and said that it wasn't him that had wanted to kill me. The demon that was inside of him took control and even though he tried to stop it, he'd failed miserably.

I managed to forgive Gaara, but that did nothing to ease my mind. I still wished that Sasuke could be by my side. I'd made friends with some of the other girls. Ino, TenTen, and Hinata had become like sisters to me. They all had crushes on a boy but weren't able to get up the nerve to tell them. They kind of reminded me of myself and so it was easy to talk to them because I'd been in the same situation.

My thoughts were jarred when someone came up to me. I sat on top of a tall hill under a tree looking out at the village. My view was blocked suddenly by long blonde hair and then Ino's face popped up and she was smiling. "Sakura, I have to tell you something," she said in an excited voice.

I turned to look at her and she sat down in front of me. "Guess what just happened!" she said.

"You got a major brain-freeze while you and Shikamaru were eating ice cream," I guessed.

"No, but close! Shikamaru asked me out! I've waited for this for like five years," Ino said.

"Ino, that's great. So…where does he want to go?" I asked, trying to be enthusiastic (but failing miserably).

"He wants to go to a movie tonight. I wonder if he'll kiss me!" Ino said still excited about her current relationship status with the boy that she'd been crushing on for like five years now. "Well, I've got to go find something sexy to wear, maybe a little slutty and revealing so he'll get the picture."

"Going a little overboard for the first date, aren't you?" I asked giving her a weak sarcastic smile. She stuck her tongue out at me before running off to her house to choose her clothes.

_**Well this sucks! I mean, our man is off somewhere training because he has to be a hero and all, and here Ino is with a date planned for tonight**_, my inner complained.

_I know, but I'm happy for her. She's wanted that for so long, she deserves it_, I thought back.

_**Yeah, five years. Hmmf! You wanted Sasuke for five years, you had him for like a month, and now he's been gone for five years. That puts you at ten years, honey. I think you definitely outweigh Ino.**_

Before I could reply to my inner, someone else ran up the hill. "Sakura! Neji asked me out!" TenTen exclaimed before I even had time to ask.

"Wow TenTen, that's fantastic. So where are you going?" I said putting on as much enthusiasm as possible while my inner thought some pretty provocative words about our current predicament.

"We're going to go out to eat tonight at a really expensive cuisine restaurant! I've got to find a dress that's perfect! Can you come help me choose?" she asked, looking at me with pleading eyes.

_I have nothing better to do_, I thought.

_**Sure you do. You can sulk about missing Sasuke-kun if you want and just leave you're friend hanging. Just do it, Sakura!**_

"Okay, TenTen. Let's go find you a really nice dress that will make his eyes pop!" I said as I stood up and followed TenTen back to her house.

When we got there, she went up to her bedroom and took out all of her dresses. Then she started trying them on (along with various bras that made her seem bigger than the B cup that she was). The first one was a light blue flowing gown with lace sleeves that hung off of her shoulders. In the center there was a fake sapphire ornamental trimmed in silver and she wore a strapless pushup bra that made her appear to have C cup boobs. I gave it an eight out of ten.

Then she tried on a black gown that had a similar top but with a fake onyx trimmed in fake gold. It went down to about halfway between her knee and her ankle and had a flowing look to it. That one received a nine out of ten with me.

Then she came out with a red halter top dress, V-necked and with another strapless pushup bra to accentuate her cleavage. The dress came down to her knees and had a wavy fringe on the end that went all the way around. She wore ruby earrings and red stilettos with two inch heels that would make her an inch shorter than Neji. On her hands, she wore red silk gloves that came all the way to her elbows and gave her an elegant appearance.

My eyes widened at the attire and I gave her two thumbs up and then a ten out of ten. She smiled. We'd found the perfect outfit for her date with Neji.

After I left a very excited TenTen's house, I thought about going home but then I simply walked around the village for a while before I headed to my old training spot. I went and sat on the old log and leaned against the tree, remembering what had happened at this very spot, five years ago.

…Sasuke's POV… (a/n yes, this is a hint that he is about to come into the picture)

As I neared the great city before me, I thought about how Sakura would react to my sudden appearance after five years. I could feel her close to me now and I knew that she must be thinking about me. That wasn't weird at all though, because for the past five years it had been hard for me to think of anything but her.

I could still smell her hair and feel her creamy skin beneath my finger when I caressed her face, feel her lips when they were pressed up against my own. I wonder if she still loved me like I did her. Would she be angry at me for leaving? Would she forgive me? My thoughts were interrupted suddenly by loud bells sounding off from the top of the gate that towered above me now.

I took a deep breath before I walked up to the gate, pumped chakra into my feet, and sprung into the air. It seemed like no problem whatsoever for me to clear the fifty foot wall that I inwardly congratulated myself with my progress. I landed on the top of the wall where two guards stared in shock at me.

"I-It's Sasuke Uchiha! Quickly, tell the Hokage that Sasuke Uchiha has returned to our village!" one of them said to the other.

"Yes, tell her but before anyone asks me any questions…could you gentlemen please tell me where Sakura Haruno is?" I said calmly.

"S-Sakura Haruno? You mean that pink-haired girl?" the guard asked while the other ran off to tell the Hokage.

"Yes, you know of her I suppose?" I continued in my monotone voice.

"Of course, she joined Team 7 on the rescue mission to save Gaara. She killed Sesori of the Red Sand and also saved Kankuro from his fateful poison."

"Yes, well…where is she?" I asked slightly intrigued at Sakura's feats while I'd been away.

"I saw her a few minutes ago heading toward the forested area over there," he answered and pointed in the direction of Sakura's training ground.

"Thank you for your help," I replied before jumping down from the wall and landing on my feet. I sprinted quickly through the village, pumping chakra into my feet all the way, and I eventually came within sight of the area where the training ground was located. But before I could get there, a flash of green cloth and pale blonde hair appeared before me.

"Well Sasuke, I've heard a lot about you. It seems that you left my student, Sakura, five years ago after promising never to leave her. It would seem that we have some business to attend to," the woman said looking at me with a grimace on her face.

"Tsunade-sama?" A feminine voice said from behind, a voice so petite and fragile-sounding that it could only belong to one person: Sakura.

And sure enough, the pink-haired girl came from behind her sensei (no idea how I missed her at first) and looked at me. When she saw me she gasped in shock. All I could manage to say was, "I promised I'd come back," as tears began to fall from her emerald eyes.

"Uh…haha. Yeah, never mind me. It would seem that you two have some more important business to take care of and…I'd only get in the way," Tsunade said before taking out a bottle of sake from an invisible pocket and drinking it while she walked away.

When she was far enough away, I studied Sakura. A lot had changed about her in five years. For one, she was taller: about five seven (however nowhere near my six foot), second she'd gotten more curves since I'd last seen her: probably around a C cup breast size and she had a perfect hourglass shape, another thing was her face: her forehead didn't seem as big and her emerald eyes had intensified in color. She looked absolutely breath-taking.

"Beautiful…" I muttered out without realizing.

She still had a look of shock on her face, but at my comment she smiled a little bit. "Thank you."

Now I realized what I'd said and my eyes widened before I decided that it was okay. She knew how I felt about her…but that pained expression on her face…I knew what it was. I'd broken my promise and she'd suffered because of it. How could I apologize to her and actually have it mean something if I'd broken the very promise that she'd wanted me to keep.

"Sakura…I-I'm sorry," I said with a sad expression on my face as I looked down at the ground.

"I know…and so am I," she said making me look up and stare into her eyes. She continued, "After you left, I was angry at you. I was also angry at Gaara for what he did. I kept trying to blame everyone else for my problems, when really…it was my fault. If I'd been stronger, I could have protected myself and I never would have been captured at all. You wouldn't have had to save me from him."

"No Sakura. Don't blame yourself for my stupid mistakes. I should have known how much it would hurt you if I left. None of this was your fault, it was mine for being immature and…and I'm sorry that it took me this long to realize it," I said, trying to remain calm but to no avail. She blamed herself for my stupid mistakes and it was my fault entirely. Why did I make such a drastic decision? Damn, why did I leave the woman I loved?

Lost for words now, I decided that actions were worth more words than pictures even so I walked up to Sakura and wrapped my arms around her torso, just below her wonderful C cups. As I did so, she leaned into me and put her arms around my waist as her tears leaked into my dark shirt.

"Sakura…how about we get out of the street?" I asked softly. She replied by nodding her head and then I let her go and she started walking down the street.

After a few minutes, we arrived at a peach-colored (or so it appeared at sunset) house with a garden in the front, white picket fence, and cute little square windows. Sakura walked up the short path and then opened the door and entered the house. I followed her inside and then looked around at her downstairs floor.

It consisted of a kitchen/dining room and a living room. The paint was off-white with a wide maroon horizontal stripe just below the midway height of the walls. The furniture was all red and the dining room table was a dark cedar color and had around it some dark cedar chairs with maroon seat pads. Everything in the big open space was some shade of red or white, but surprisingly no pink.

She led me up the stairs and I looked around at the walls. They were all a dark blood red color with a lighter red horizontal stripe. The door to the bathroom across the hall from her bedroom had pale yellow walls. When I went into her bedroom, I saw that it had a pure red ceiling and maroon walls. Her queen-sized bed was fitted with bed covers that were quilted and had designs in red, maroon, white, and other light colors. The pillows were red and maroon some with gold fringe on the edges.

"Nice room," I said as I walked in behind Sakura. She still had tears running down her cheeks. I could tell because they were still wet and if she'd stopped crying a while ago they'd have already been dry.

Walking up behind her, I pressed my body against hers and rubbed her shoulders soothingly. "Sasuke, I'm sorry for being this way. I've wanted you to return so badly but it's just a shock that you appeared out of the blue. I should be happier."

"It's okay, you don't have to be happy immediately," I lied. I really wish I could get the old Sakura back. She wasn't as much fun when she was depressed. _Maybe I should do something to make her feel better_, I thought as I considered my options.

_**Touch her C cups**_, my perverted inner said while snickering.

_I will not, not while she's in this mood. Maybe later_, I thought back.

Then Sakura made a frustrated sound as if she could read my mind and I wished that I'd listened to my inner, so I decided to tease her. I moved my hands down to her waist and rubbed her body slowly inching my way up. When I reached her curves, I stopped and she let out another frustrated sound. With this, I spun her around and pulled her up against my chest.

She smiled a little at the feeling of our closeness before whispering, "You're very good at torture."

"I know," I whispered back before bending down and kissing her neck which she readily exposed for me. Then I stopped and my gaze fell to her lips. When I hesitated, she took charge and stood up on her tiptoes some and our lips met. She was more forceful than I remembered and did not give in when I pushed against her. No, instead she just gave her kiss more force and then turned me around and pushed me over onto her bed. She took a quick breath before resuming her assertive position on top of me, leading me into her kiss.

I decided that if she wanted to lead, I'd make a game out of it. Using my strength, I changed our positions, putting her on her back. I stopped kissing her for a minute and caressed her face looking into her emerald eyes. Again I saw that need, the wanting that was so deep that she could not hide it. When I stopped for too long, her expression turned to annoyance and then she took over again.

The next morning, I woke up in Sakura's bed and I looked across from me and she was looking at me with beautiful green eyes. I scooted closer to her and gave her a quick kiss on her soft pink lips. "You sleep soundly," she said.

"Oh, well I guess that means I'm having a good dream," I said giving her a perverted grin.

"Well maybe one day, I'll make that dream a reality."

"Hmm…I like the sound of that," I said wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her closer to me. I laid there for a while just staring at her face thinking of what to say. "Sakura…I really am sorry. I shouldn't have broken my promise to you. Please forgive me."

"Do you remember before you left…how you said that I liked you too much to ever hate you? Well, the truth is that I love you Sasuke…I always have and that's why I could never hate you. I've waited for the day that you would return. My friends tried to convince me to get over you and move on…but you promised to come back…and no matter what I did or who I met I knew that you would return. So I didn't listen to them, even though it would have been so easy for me to forget about you and go after someone else. I love you Sasuke-kun," Sakura said. As she spoke, tears tried to establish themselves in my eyes and no matter how I tried to restrain them, one fell and it ran down the length of my face. Sakura was crying too and she didn't notice, thankfully.

When we both returned to normal, Sakura looked at me and then laughed wiping the tear off of my cheek. "What?" I asked.

"I made you cry," she said. I frowned at first but when I noticed her smiling a smirk played across my lips.

"Wow, what are you a miracle worker?!" I said with sarcasm.

"I was just thinking the same thing!" she exclaimed with equal sarcasm. Just as I went to kiss her again, the doorbell rang.

I stopped and asked, "Why do I have a feeling it's the dobe?"

"That's called dejavu," she replied still holding her sarcastic tone.

"Haha, I get it," I said in a monotone voice before climbing out of her bed and walking downstairs while she put a housecoat on (a/n she was wearing her skimpy PJ's and Naruto's a perv…DO THE MATH!). When we were both downstairs, I opened the door to find…obviously, Naruto.

"Sasuke, oh my god, you're back!" he exclaimed. When he'd looked me over and saw me in just a pair of pajama pants, he added in a more perverted voice, "Yeah,…I thought you'd be at Sakura's house."

"Stupid dobe! Have you been to Hinata's house, I'm sure you're together by now, right?" I said in my come-back voice AKA P.O-ed voice.

"Huh? Wait a sec teme….Hinata likes me?!" Naruto said as his light bulb finally turned on. (a/n about time! They're what…eighteen years old!!!)

"Naruto?" Sakura's tired voice said from behind me. She came and stood by me and looked at the blonde-haired idiot (a/n yes, I like Naruto but he was really an idiot right there)

"Yes, Sakura?" Naruto answered in a zombie-like voice from his former shock. Sakura looked at him for a minute with a look that says: He really is an idiot…

"Yeah,..you might want to come sit down," she finally said and I could only nod my head in approval. Naruto walked into Sakura's house and immediately went to the couch and sat down. He was still all zombie like and so a light bulb popped up over my head and I got an idea.

I whispered something in Sakura's ear and she nodded in agreement before heading off to the kitchen. After about ten minutes she brought a bowl of piping hot(…wait for it….wait for it…duh.) ramen. Obviously Naruto's keen ramen senses were tingling (hehe, he sounds like spiderman) because his head immediately shot up at the scent of the…what was it…beef ramen.

"My favorite!!! Sakura, you're the best!" Naruto exclaimed before he hungrily indulged in noodles and all of the little bits of beef and vegetables. He finished in about thirty seconds and then he was awake and full of his usual spirit._ I knew that would work_, I thought as I smiled to myself.

_**Yeah, yeah. What do you expect? That kid is like the ramen bully. He better hope that ramen noodles aren't alive and have a spell to turn him into one…hehehehehe.**_

_**Why aren't you laughing?!**_

_That was so lame._

_**Yeah, yeah…you got something better?!**_

All I could do was shake my head at my inner self. When I returned to the real world, Sakura was sitting on the couch talking to Naruto. I went and sat by her.

"Naruto, you seriously didn't know? What about that rose you got for Valentine's Day and those anonymous letters with the red lips on the envelope? Oh, and there was this cookbook for gourmet ramen that she gave you for Christmas..," Sakura said shaking her head at Naruto in pity.

"All of that was her? I loved those gifts and I even cooked some of the ramen from the book and it was really good."

"Yes, she spent an entire week cooking all of the types of ramen in the book. When I came in on her one day and asked her what was up, she said that she had to make sure it was perfect for you, Naruto," Sakura continued.

"But they all were from 'Anonymous!' How was I supposed to know?!" Naruto said trying to defend what little bit of pride he still has (very little might I add).

"Haven't you noticed the way she is around you? She stutters when she talks to you, twiddles her fingers together, and can't make eye contact with you."

"I thought she was always like that…" Naruto said, looking down. He appeared to be in deep thought (wow, Sakura _is _a miracle worker!) "So, what should I do?" he asked after a while.

"Ask her out on a date!" Sakura and I exclaimed simultaneously.

"Okay, but what if she says no?" he asked still looking confused.

"Haven't you listened to a word that I said?! She might faint, but if she does it's a good thing. Just be sure to catch her when she does…otherwise she could get hurt," Sakura said, getting a little P.O-ed at Naruto's stupidity.

"Got it! Fainting is good, catch her…" Naruto replied making a mental checklist that would probably go away as soon as he left the house anyways. And with that, he gave us an excited wave and left in a flash. I watched him as he ran out the door at breakneck speed and down the street wondering if all of that energy came from Kyuubi or if it was natural. I closed the door and when I turned around, Sakura was washing the dish that Naruto had eaten in.

Smirking, I snuck up behind her and gently moved my hands to her waist. "You know, that could wait..," I whispered in her ear while I nuzzled my face in her sweet-smelling hair.

"Yes, but I don't want it to just sit around and attract flies. I'm a very clean person," Sakura answered without moving from where she stood. I backed off a little bit and looked at her. Maybe it was her age, but I didn't think that Sakura would actually be a neat person. I guess that five years had matured her more than expected. "By the way, after breakfast I have to go to the hospital."

"The hospital? Why?" I asked. Was something wrong with Sakura? Was she sick or was somebody sick? Was she pregnant?? --

"Work," she answered simply while walking over to the fridge and getting out some food.

"You work at the hospital now?" I was still a bit confused, but I let out a sigh of relief when she answered.

"Yeah, Naruto asked Tsunade-sama to train me the day before he left to train with Jiraiya-sama. She's trained me ever since and taught me everything she knows about medical procedures, medical ninjutsu, and other medical stuff. So now I work at the hospital on weekdays and I'm always on call for emergencies," she explained as she cooked an egg-ham-cheese omelet.

"Oh, so when will you get back?" I asked kind of disappointed that I wouldn't get to see her that much.

"Around eight o' clock tonight unless something comes up," she answered simply. I sat there watching her cook and when she finished, she divided the omelet and gave me a plate while she took the other. She walked over to the cabinet and poured herself a cup of coffee, then walked back over to the table and ate her breakfast. We both ate in silence before Sakura went upstairs to change clothes and I got a cup of coffee.

About fifteen minutes later, she came down fully dressed. She wore a red sleeveless top, form-fitting making me realize how good a judge my inner was of cup size, a pink skirt that came almost to her knees with black shorts underneath, and a pair of dark red Go-Go boots. Around her waist, she wore a belt with a pack attached to the back and on her hands she wore red wristbands and darker red fingerless gloves. On her right leg, she still had the kunai holster I'd given her a long time ago. She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail with a red ribbon, her bangs framing her face. Overall, she looked like the hottest eighteen-year-old girl I'd ever seen! I liked her new look.

"Okay well, I'll see you tonight, Sasuke," Sakura said giving me a quick kiss on the lips.

"Yeah, see you tonight Sakura," I said as she left. Once she'd closed the door behind her, I wondered what I could do to busy myself for the entire day, but I didn't have to worry long as a ring on the doorbell alerted me of someone's presence. When I opened it, I saw a small girl with messy brown hair. She handed me a letter and then was off.

The letter was from the Hokage. I could tell by the fancy Konoha seal, and the drops of sake that had splattered on the envelope. When I opened it, I was none too surprised to find out what the Hokage wanted.

_Mr. Uchiha,_

_I sure hope you haven't forgotten what I told you yesterday, otherwise I might have to come and find you myself and you wouldn't like that. Come and see me as soon as you get this message. We need to talk, now. _

_Sincerely,_

_The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade_

After reading the handwritten letter with ink blotches and holes where Tsunade, probably drunk, had felt appropriate to vent her anger on the paper, I started fearing for my life a little and gulped. I went upstairs, got dressed, and then headed for the Hokage tower where Shizune immediately ushered me into a room with big oak doors adorned with gold handles.

The Hokage sat with her back to me in her high back chair. When she turned around, her fingers were weaved together and she was staring at me with stern cold eyes. "Sit down," she said without moving. Shizune was trembling beside me and walked out of the room quickly once I'd done as the Hokage said.

"It angers me that you treated my student, Sakura in the way that you did. It also angers me that you would leave your village. You better have a good reason for leaving Sasuke Uchiha or else you will be tried as a criminal."

"There is no excuse for what I did Tsunade-sama, I understand this. I thought that by leaving I could ensure Sakura's protection but in turn I only hurt her more than I should have. I have become stronger but in my selfish conquest, I abandoned the one I loved. Try me as a criminal if you see fit Tsunade but know that I will **not** leave Sakura again, no matter what your punishment may be," I replied with full understanding of the possible consequences of my actions.

"I'm happy to hear that. I believe that your intentions were good and therefore you may resume your ninja duties at the level of chuunin; however, I will still be watching you. Also, Sakura better not turn up pregnant unless you two are married, understand? If she does, I will personally castrate you."

Sasuke's eyes grew wide and he flinched visibly when Tsunade mentioned castrating him. "You are dismissed Sasuke Uchiha," the Hokage said with a grin at the effect that her words had on the eighteen-year-old.

**End: Well I just ended it here because I wanted to update as soon as possible and it's a really long chapter…. 'looks at the above mass of words and sighs' Well, R&R plz.**


	7. Chapter 7 Catching Up with Friends

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. **

**Intro: Okay just to make things clear in case my readers get confused, Sakura and Sasuke did not have sex; it was just a long make-out session that ended in them falling asleep together. **

_**Chapter 7**_

…Sakura's POV…

I woke up in a much better mood this morning. As I opened my eyes, I was met by the stony gaze of Sasuke lying directly across from me. He wrapped his arms around my torso and pulled me closer to him to plant a kiss on my lips. When he pulled his face away from mine, I was smiling at him and he looked at me quizzically.

"What?" I asked.

"What are you smiling about?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"I just love waking up to you. I just wish it could've always been like this," I answered giving him a piercing yet soft gaze.

His mischievous glance turned into one of guilt. "Sakura…I..." he started but I put a finger to his lips.

"Don't... It's best if we don't talk about the past anymore and instead focus on our future," I said explaining my reasoning behind stopping his apology.

"Okay, Sakura," he replied, planting another kiss on my lips before slipping out from under the covers and getting dressed. I watched him walk away before getting up myself and changing into my everyday outfit. Since today was Saturday I didn't have to work at the hospital and I'd get to spend all of my time with Sasuke.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Tsunade reinstated me as a chuunin level ninja," Sasuke said turning to me. I could hear the excitement, which he normally kept sealed away, in his voice and I knew that this had made him very happy.

"Really?! I was wondering how that went."

"Yeah, it's great you know because I'll be able to be with my old teammates again. How's everyone been anyways? I haven't even had time to talk to them."

"Well, how about we go see? I'm sure they're not too busy, I haven't been required lately to join any teams and there hasn't been much action lately. We can spend today catching you up with old friends," I said with a warm smile.

"You won't feel out of place?" Sasuke asked hesitantly.

"Why would I?" I asked walking out of my room. When Sasuke didn't reply, I knew he was probably stumped but I decided to let him sweat it out a bit…and it was more fun this way.

…1 hour later…

We started our day by looking for Naruto since he'd probably be the easiest to find. Our first stop was at Ichiraku's. To our surprise he wasn't there and when we asked the manager he said that he hadn't seen Naruto all day. My jaw dropped at that moment: Naruto not at Ichiraku's?!!! What the hell?!

"Where could he be?" Sasuke asked as we walked away from the ramen shop.

"I have no idea. He's always at Ichiraku's!"

"Are you guys looking for Naruto?" a monotone voice said from around a corner.

As we rounded that corner, we found that it was Neji and a very surprised TenTen. Well, first she looked surprised but then angry all of a sudden and she nearly jumped onto Sasuke with kunai in hand if not for a light blond streak running up and getting there first.

As the punch neared Sasuke's face, I yelled, "No, Ino, stop!"

Her swing was stopped in mid air and she looked at me with surprise. Obviously she hadn't realized I was actually there with Sasuke. "Oh, hi Sakura," she said with a complete change of attitude as she lowered her fist and TenTen put away her kunai.

"Wow, women," Shikamaru's voice said unenthusiastically from behind TenTen and Neji. Although he was shaking his head, I saw an amused smirk on his plain face at Ino and TenTen's reaction to seeing Sasuke.

"Well, that's a nice welcome," Sasuke said with sarcasm. "Nice to see you too, Ino…TenTen."

"Jerk."

"Bastard."

TenTen and Ino muttered in reply. I just rolled my eyes at them. "Guys, it's okay," I said looking at them pointedly. They both apologized to Sasuke, who apparently had figured out why they'd reacted to seeing him like that, and nodded his head as if it was nothing.

"Um…Hello? Were you guys looking for Naruto?" Neji asked again, clearly agitated about being totally ignored.

"Yeah, do you know where he is?" Sasuke asked turning his attention to the emo Hyuuga.

"Not exactly, but..well I did see him heading off in that direction with Hinata about ten minutes ago," said Hyuuga replied, pointing his finger in the direction where he'd seen Naruto last.

"Oh, well then never mind that. We'll give them some private time," Sasuke said looking at me with a victorious look on his face.

"Speaking of private time? How about some girl time, y'know…with just us girls?" Ino implied glaring at Neji, Shikamaru, and Sasuke who quickly left us after saying their goodbyes (AKA goodbye kisses).

TenTen, Ino, and I walked off in the opposite direction heading toward the park. We saw an ice cream cart and each of us bought an ice cream cone. Ironically Ino's was banana (yellow), TenTen's was chocolate (brown), and mine was strawberry (pink). Choosing a random bench, we all sat down together and ate our ice cream while socializing with each other.

Ino was the first to speak. "I can't believe you, Sakura!" she exclaimed "How can you just take him back like that? I mean he abandoned you for like—five freakin' years!"

"Uh…Ino, calm down sweetie," TenTen said as Ino took a gigantic bite out of her ice cream, resulting in a sudden brain freeze which was evident by the shivering and holding of her head.

"Well, he apologized for it, and he really is trying to make it up to me. It's not like he didn't do it for me: he was just too immature at the time to see his own misconception," I responded once Ino's brain freeze had stopped and her face returned to normal.

"So?! That's five years of your life that you spent miserably waiting for him to return. You can't get that back, Sakura! That's like the best years of your life, your sweet sixteen for crying out loud!"

"Well, how great was your sweet sixteen Ino? Don't tell me that everything turned out perfect because I know it didn't. I was there remember… when Shikamaru turned up at your party holding the hand of that blonde-haired chic from Suna, Temari. You were so upset that it took TenTen and I a whole hour to get you to come out of your room and rejoin your own damn party! TenTen's wasn't much different. When Neji showed up, she tried to drop hints that she had feelings for him but that ice cube didn't even catch on and he left that night without even a proper goodbye. Okay, just because your crush was there doesn't necessarily mean that it made any difference and you guys have had it pretty rough too."

"Sakura's right Ino. Besides…you shouldn't discourage her from seeing Sasuke just because of his past mistakes. From the way he was looking at her, I can tell that he really is sorry for hurting her. He loves Sakura, and I don't think he'll ever make that same mistake twice now that he knows how it affects her." TenTen was looking directly at Ino who was looking pretty ashamed for saying such things to me.

"I'm sorry Sakura. I guess I was just totally pissed off at Sasuke to the point where I forgot to look at all the facts." Ino said with her face downcast and a look of sadness at the memories I'd brought back to her. "If you still love him, then I guess it's the right choice."

Ino came over to me and gave me a hug and eventually TenTen joined in and I found myself feeling a little bit more like I should: like I would've if Sasuke had never left.

…Sasuke's POV…

After the girls left, Neji, Shikamaru and I decided to go find a training field to spar in order to test each other's skills. We'd been sparring for about an hour minutes before we decided to stop for a break and talk. Somehow the girls had come into the conversation, and now Shikamaru and Neji were staring me down at a question about Sakura.

"WHAT?! Why do you guys want to know that?" I exclaimed.

"Well, I want to know how much game you've got," Shikamaru said with a shrug.

"I want to know if I should tell TenTen and Ino so they'll try to kill you again," Neji said with a straight face.

"Haha very funny," I said, glaring at Neji.

"Well, have you?" Shikamaru asked.

"Have you had sex with Ino, Shikamaru? And what about you, Neji…Have you and TenTen been doing your thing?" I countered.

"Hey dude, we asked you first," Neji said without even flinching while Shikamaru snorted loudly and went into a choking fit as his face turned a very dark shade of red.

"No, I haven't…and I'm kinda afraid to after Tsunade-sama's threat," I answered.

"Of what?" Shikamaru said after he'd stopped coughing and his face had returned to it's normal color.

"Well…seriously you don't want to know."

"No tell us," Neji said.

"Well, she said that if Sakura turned up pregnant, she would personally castrate me," I answered shivering at the mere thought of it.

"Ouch," they both said simultaneously.

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying," I replied.

"That's kind of harsh," a voice said from behind me. I turned around to see Naruto looking at us with a satisfied smirk on his face. "If she made that threat to me, I would probably flee the country."

"Oh, so you and Hinata caught up that quickly?" I asked causing the cool-headed blonde to instantly turn red and return to his normal composure (AKA loud mouthed and annoying).

"HEY, THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS TEME! BESIDES, SHE MADE THE THREAT TO YOU ABOUT SAKURA, NOT ME AND HINATA!" he exclaimed, leaving a stunned and deaf Shikamaru and Neji in his wake.

"That's probably because she doesn't know about you two. Have you told her?" I retorted with a cool stare.

"Uh…well…um…no," he stuttered.

Neji and Shikamaru were both trying to hide their amusement at Naruto's embarrassment. They were both smirking and Shikamaru shook his head and looked down at the ground with closed eyes. Naruto simply scowled at them.

Neji stood up and said, "Well, I'm leaving. I'll see you losers later."

"Yeah, I'm leaving too. See you later Sasuke, Naruto," Shikamaru said as he stood and followed Neji out of the clearing.

After the other two left, Naruto and I talked for a while before Naruto went home and I went to find Sakura. I thought that she might be in the park so that was his first stop. Sure enough, sitting at a bench with Hinata was Sakura, whispering frantically and excitedly to Hinata, who looked just as excited.

I purposefully cleared my throat as I approached and the girls immediately fell silent, as I expected. Of course, it wasn't my business anyways so I didn't care.

"S-see you later Sakura," Hinata said and she got up and left us alone.

"Well, what was so important that Ino had to drag you away for?" I asked sarcastically.

"Oh. Girl stuff. She was just mad at something and wanted to vent her anger so she wanted to talk to TenTen and I," Sakura said without looking at me and I knew she wasn't telling the complete truth. I decided to wait until we got back to Sakura's house before I asked any further questions.

_**Yeah, because then you can influence her to talk to you in the privacy of her bedroom**_, my inner self said with a snicker.

_Shut up pervert_, I replied to the comment.

_**I'm just your inner self, dummie.**_

Okay, so that was what I was thinking but I'll never admit it to my inner self….although he probably already knows. Crap.

We walked around the village for a while, getting something to eat at lunchtime, taking a stroll in the park, and training for a while in our 'spot' before finally heading home around dark. The day had passed so quickly it seemed since we had nothing to do. Once we got back to Sakura's house (a/n yes, technically he doesn't live there so it's still just Sakura's house) she went to take a shower while I watched TV in her living room.

I was really tired and I eventually fell into a light sleep. However, it didn't last long because after only a couple minutes, I felt someone else sit down on the couch and when I woke back up, Sakura was looking at me with her big emerald eyes. Her hair was still wet from her shower and she was wearing a long shirt for pajamas. I smiled up at her and she cocked her head with a questioning glance.

"You look totally hot right now," I said answering her unspoken question.

"Right now?" she asked confused. "But my hair is a mess and I don't have any makeup on at all!"

"Exactly," I said, sitting up which put her face right next to mine. I looked into her eyes and I saw her expression change.

She smiled at me before saying, "Actually, I'm kind of cold right now, what with being wet and all."

"Well then, how about I help you with that?" I asked as I took her in my arms and carried her up to her bed.

"You know, you don't have to do this," she said as I carried her. When I set her on her bed, she laid down and covered herself up.

"I know but I wanted to." I went around to the other side of her bed and turned the light off before I laid down with her, pulling her closer once I'd gotten in her bed.

As she started to fall asleep cuddled up against me, she asked in a soft voice, "Sasuke?" When I made a 'hn?' sound, she continued, "Do you want to live here with me?"

"I thought you'd never ask," I said with a smile before kissing her and then falling asleep.

**End: Well, there's another chapter down. I decided that since I've been getting so many positive reviews for this story that I would write a lot more on this one than my other stories. So, it'll probably be getting more frequent updates if I can get on the internet. Yeah, my mom is obsessed with Internet so she always ties it up (dial up internet). R&R**


	8. Chapter 8 Tragedy Strikes!

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. **

**Intro: FYI This chapter occurs two weeks after the last one. That's the only announcement for now, so…on to the chapter!**

_**Chapter 8**_

…Sakura's POV…

It had been two weeks since I asked Sasuke to move in with me. I liked having him waiting for me at home whenever I got back from work. Of course, I wasn't always that lucky. After only two days of Sasuke living with me, he had to go on a long mission and he was gone for five days. Then, two days later, he had to go on another mission and he still hadn't gotten back. So, out of two weeks, he was only there for four days. I'd started to feel a bit lonely now, and Sasuke's near-constant absence kept reminding me of the years that he'd been absent from my life. So, I got home today and he still wasn't back and it was already dark. He said that he'd probably be gone about two days so today was the day he should return, but he still wasn't back and there was no sign that he'd returned and left the house.

I was beginning to worry about him now…

_**What do you think happened?**_ Inner Sakura asked me with a sincere tone.

_Maybe they just couldn't find what they were looking for or they decided to wait until morning to travel_, I replied although I doubted that Shikamaru would put his team in danger by staying an extra night in the wilderness. It was a B rank mission after all and there were plenty of people that would be after them if they took too long.

_**Try not to worry too much. I plan on getting some sleep tonight Sakura**_, my inner replied as she settled down in her own bed in my head.

I sighed and then went to bed and eventually fell asleep and started to dream.

_It was dark and I could hear the sound of creatures in the woods around me. There was something else, a larger presence out there in the woods beyond the clearing where the squad was. Shikamaru was talking to the other two ninjas while sitting around the fire. I couldn't hear what he was saying but it seemed important. _

"_Sasuke, come over here," Shikamaru said to me from his spot between the other two. _Sasuke, _I thought. _I'm Sasuke?

_I walked over to him despite my doubts, but before I could get to the fire I heard a sharp cracking sound behind me and turned around just in time to see a pair of red eyes jumping out of the trees and sending a blast of fire at us._

Suddenly I jumped awake and sat up looking around my bedroom. Looking at my clock I saw that it was midnight. I only had a second to relax before I felt a shiver run down my spine and the next second, there was a ring at my doorbell. I went downstairs and opened the door to find Tsunade and Shizune standing in my yard staring at me. "We need you, and fast! Something has happened to Sasuke's team."

My heart started pounding faster and I nodded my head before running upstairs and getting dressed fast. I ran back down the stairs and outside, where Naruto now stood with Tsunade and Shizune.

…1 hour later…

We traveled fast through the forest. My inner self was freaking out and pounding my head so that I was starting to get a headache but there was nothing I could do because I was just as worried.

Naruto came closer to me and looked at my face: I was sweating all over from the stress. "You have to calm down, Sakura-chan. Tsunade and Shizune need you to be calm so that you can help. We don't know the severity of the situation, but don't worry. Sasuke will be fine," he said, trying to calm me in one of his more serious voices. I nodded my head as I tried to calm down. It was just starting to work when we came upon a clearing where a campfire had been put out just recently and it still smoldered.

As the clearing came into view, so did a dark shape lying on the ground covered in blood. He was unmistakable: Sasuke! It was all I could do to stop myself from jumping headfirst into the clearing. I had to act like a ninja and ninjas never jumped out in the open without checking their surroundings. It was a good thing that I didn't jump into the clearing because just as we stopped on the outskirts of it, a pair of red eyes turned around and stared straight at me. Something told me not to look at them and I immediately dropped my gaze to the stranger's feet. Of course, he wasn't a stranger at all, because I knew who he was, and if we didn't do anything he would kill Sasuke if he hadn't already.

Just as the thought flared through my mind, obviously it did in Naruto and Tsunade's and the two blonde haired ninjas jumped out into the clearing and engaged in a battle with Itachi. I made an attempt to enter the fray, but Shizune's arm blocked my path. "Our job is to tend to the wounded," she whispered. "But we must wait for those two to distract Itachi."

We waited until the battle had gone to the far side of the large clearing and Naruto and Tsunade had Itachi pretty occupied before we moved in. I immediately rushed to Sasuke's side and checked for a pulse. I felt of his chest and listened and there it was: a pulse! He wasn't dead. But it was a faint pulse and I knew I had to work fast. Just as I started pumping chakra into my hands and started healing the wounds on his body, a hand grasped my shirt from behind and flung me off of Sasuke and into a tree.

I let out a huff of pain as I made contact before grabbing two kunai and flinging them at Itachi whose back was to me. They stabbed him and he made a growling sound before turning around and looking at me with his frightful ruby gaze. I diverted my eyes away from his and waited as he came closer to me.

"So, you're Sasuke's bitch, huh? Well, I'm afraid I can't let you heal him. If you try it again, I might have to kill you. I annihilated the Uchiha clan and I don't expect a comeback of our murderous kind," he hissed out as he neared me with a hand grabbing and holding onto my neck and lifting me up with one hand. "Well, just in case you've already gotten yourself knocked up by him, I'll make precautions," he said with an evil smile as he used his free hand to pound into my stomach. The force of his powerful punch made me lose my strength and he let go of my throat and let me fall to the ground.

He walked back toward Sasuke and pulled one of my kunai out of his back. "Haha, how ironic this will be?" he said to me with an evil laugh. "I'll kill him with the very blade that you presented me with."

My eyes filled with horror as his arm flew down toward Sasuke's chest. Seconds before it made contact, a yellow flash cut across my view and knocked Itachi back with a crunching sound, stopping him in his tracks and knocking him into a tree. Naruto's Rasengan had broken Itachi's ribs, as evident by the crunching sound it had made on impact. The great Uchiha's Sharingan was suddenly turned off and his eyes returned to their ebony shade just seconds before a fish-looking guy (Kisame) appeared and caught a hold of Itachi. Naruto backed up and brought me to my feet as Itachi said, "It's not over, Sakura! The Uchiha clan will not be rebuilt, you can bet your life on it! Hahahahaha!" With that, Kisame and Itachi disappeared in a cloud of smoke and the clearing was finally calm, or as calm as it could be.

Naruto walked me over to Sasuke where I knelt down and ripped off his shirt so that I could see his wounds better. I'd healed his scratches and cuts before but this was way more than I'd ever seen. It was as if Itachi had meant to permanently scar Sasuke or torture him with pain until he died. There were deep cuts all over his stomach and chest. In fact, without a face, he would've been totally unrecognizable.

I began to heal the deepest of the cuts, saving my chakra by only healing them until the bleeding stopped so that I could get to as many as possible. Shizune and Tsunade were busy healing Shikamaru and the other ninja that was part of his team. Obviously the fourth man had been the one to get help, because soon a tired ninja appeared with a whole squad of medic nins. They loaded the injured nins onto stretchers and carried them back to Konoha as fast as they could with Naruto, Tsunade, Shizune, and I following behind them.

**End: I know it's kind of short but I decided to stop it here just so that I could get an update out there and don't worry: I'm already writing the next chapter so it'll probably be not too far behind this one. Tell me what you think about this one plz. R&R**


	9. Chapter 9 The Big Question

Blossoming Cherry

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. **

**Intro: If you're angry about the way the last chap went, well just know that it was getting to be kind of boring with no battles or tension at all so I just thought of Sasuke getting hurt for once and decided it would be a nice twist.**

_**Chapter 9**_

…Sakura's POV…

Three days. It had already been three days with Sasuke in the hospital. Today would be the fourth day. I'd tried to stay focused but my work ethics weren't up to par so instead Tsunade assigned me to take care of Sasuke. It was still hard to take care of him when I couldn't even care for myself. My stomach had been giving me fits and I'd thrown up a couple of times from where Itachi had punched me so hard. I hadn't had a good night's sleep the whole three days, so now I found myself dozing off.

I'd just fallen into a light sleep when I heard a male voice call my name. My eyes opened and I heard Sasuke say from his bed, "Sakura…"

"Sasuke-kun?" I asked as I started to get excited.

"Sakura…where am I?" he asked as he looked around the white room.

"You're in the hospital. Remember, your team was attacked?" I answered as I sat down on the bed beside him.

"How long have I been here?" he asked looking at me and starting to worry a bit.

"Three days. It-your attacker cut you up pretty bad and they were worried about you losing too much blood," I replied reaching for his hand as I thought better of mentioning Itachi's name.

Of course, it didn't matter because he suddenly remembered that night and he got an angry expression on his face. "Itachi," he hissed out.

"Yes, Itachi," I said before clutching my still sore stomach as a sharp pain went through my body. Tsunade had worried that he may have broken something but she said it was just bruised and for me not to worry.

Sasuke noticed and his eyes opened wider in shock. "Did he hurt you Sakura? He was still there when you got there wasn't he? What did he do?"

"Yes, Itachi was there. I was trying to heal your wounds while Naruto and Tsunade distracted him but he attacked me when I started healing you," I answered leaving out the part about Itachi not wanting the Uchiha clan to be revived.

"Why does your stomach hurt?" he asked, referring to my earlier action. "He hit you in the stomach?"

"Y-yes," I stuttered out and Sasuke pulled his hand away from mine to grab my face and pull it closer to his.

Looking me in the eyes, he asked through gritted teeth, "Why?"

I was taken aback by Sasuke's roughness and I could only manage to say, "In case I was pregnant," before I broke down and started crying. Sasuke took his hand off of my jaw, he looked at me with shocked and angry eyes.

…Sasuke's POV…

Itachi had intentionally punched Sakura in the stomach like that just because he feared she might be pregnant. He had to be the sickest bastard in the whole world and I would kill him. If not for me, I would do it for Sakura and for the family that I longed to have with her.

Suddenly I felt sorry that I had reacted that way to Sakura and I sat up in my bed and pulled her into an embrace and rocked her back and forth until she finally stopped crying and looked at me with sad eyes. Her usually bright emerald orbs looked dull and glazed, definitely not just from crying. She hadn't been getting enough sleep and I felt bad for putting her through all of this stress.

Before either of us could say anything to the other, the door opened and Tsunade walked in with a clipboard in her hand. "Well, I see you're awake Sasuke. You had a pretty nasty experience. I'll just check on your wounds and if everything is alright, you are free to return home."

I nodded and Sakura got off of my bed and sat back in the chair while Tsunade took off the bandages and checked all of the wounds. "Everything looks good, Sasuke. You shouldn't have any problems now, so you may go home."

"Thank you Tsunade-sama," I replied. She nodded her head and then left the room. I got out of the bed and got dressed in my normal clothes which Sakura had brought me and then we headed home.

Once we got back home, Sakura started complaining about her stomach hurting and so she took some pain pills and went to bed. I wasn't tired now so I looked around for something to do. I decided that it would probably be a good idea for me to get washed up and so I took a shower before going back downstairs to get something to eat.

After a couple of hours of sitting around with nothing to do but watch TV, I decided to go find Naruto and talk to the dobe or spar with him. I left the house after making sure that Sakura _was_ still asleep.

…Sakura's POV…

I awoke a few hours later with an empty feeling. The house was quiet so I figured that Sasuke must have gone somewhere. I got dressed, making sure to bring my weapons along, and then went downstairs to find that he was absent from the house. I figured he must be somewhere with Naruto so I went outside and looked around for them. The first place that I checked was Ichiraku's but they weren't there so I decided to go to their training grounds.

After a few minutes, I had made it to the training grounds but while I was standing just outside of the clearing in the woods, I heard two voices talking to each other. I got closer so I could hear them. Once I got close enough to hear, I could tell that it was Naruto and Sasuke. "I can't believe he would do something like that! That stupid bastard thought that Sakura might be pregnant and so he made sure to punch her like that. It's a miracle that she's not in the hospital right now," Sasuke was saying with a hateful tone towards Itachi.

Naruto replied, "I just hope that the damages aren't serious and permanent. It would be terrible if Sakura could never have children because of that stupid brother of yours."

"Yeah well that's what I'm afraid of. You know, I don't plan on having any kids soon, but eventually I would like for it to be more than just the two of us."

"Are you going to propose to her?" Naruto asked.

_No, I don't want to hear the answer to that yet!_ I thought as I quickly figured a way to stop him from answering. I walked out into the clearing and Sasuke's mouth immediately shut.

"Sakura! Uh…how are you today?" Naruto asked, startled at my sudden appearance.

"Okay, but my stomach still hurts a bit, Naruto," I replied.

Sasuke stood up from the log that he'd been sitting on and he walked over to me. "I thought you were sleeping it off. You should be resting," he said to me as he put his hand on my flat stomach lightly as if he could make it feel better with just his touch.

"I wasn't sleepy anymore, and I came looking for you. I couldn't stand to be alone," I answered looking at him with big emerald eyes. He gave me a smirk and then turned to Naruto.

"I've got to go meet Hinata, so I'll see you guys later," he said before walking over to me and giving me a friendly hug and Sasuke a nod before leaving the two of us alone.

"You're really sneaky, you know that?" he asked giving me his sly smirk before giving me a gentle kiss while his hands were on my waist. "Did you hear our conversation?"

"Why, was it something concerning me?" I asked with a smile at his compliment.

"You trust I wouldn't say anything bad about you, right?" he asked in response.

"Of course I do Sasuke! Why wouldn't I trust you?" I said with bright and truthful eyes as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Well, yes, it was something concerning you, but I'm not telling you what it was," he said, smirking.

"Aww…why not?" I asked with puppy dog eyes before pushing him up against the nearest tree and slowly bringing my lips up to his. At first, he was submissive but then, unable to let me dominate him, he turned the tables (literally). He turned us around and pushed me up against the tree in his place. I couldn't help but smile as he started kissing me again.

"Because if I tell you, you might not like my ideas about the future," he said stopping for a second to answer my question.

I took his hand from my waist and placed it over my stomach. "I'm pretty sure I will," I replied. He gave me a surprised look before I pulled him closer for another kiss and he soon took charge again, making it more passionate than before pressing his body against mine as I melted into his touch.

We stopped after about five minutes of making out and went to my training field. We lay down in the now clover-filled field. Sasuke picked one of the magenta clover flowers and handed it to me. "Thanks, but if I wanted one I could pick it from over here," I said pointing to the flowers next to me. He gave me a playful scowl before scooting closer to me. I gave him a kiss and then we looked up at the now-darkening sky.

…Sasuke's POV…

_Should I ask her now?_ I asked myself.

_**Don't you dare chicken out on me now!**_ My inner exclaimed.

_Well, what do you think?_ I asked again.

_**Do it already!**_

Looking at the silent Sakura, I could tell that she was expecting me to say something. _**Great, she knows already**_, I thought.

_**Who cares? Just ask her!**_

_Did I ask you?_

_**Well, I hear all of your thoughts so…kinda.**_

_Shut up._

_**I will when you stop talking to yourself.**_

Sakura was still silent even though I was sure it had been an entire two minutes since I'd said anything. She still lie looking up at the stars with a look of contemplation on her face. Deciding that it was now or never, I sat up and then stood. Sakura looked up at me with a look of confusion on her face. It seemed like a fake expression to me.

I helped her to her feet and she stood looking at me expectantly. "Sakura, I have a question I want to ask you..," I started. Pulling out a little black box from my pocket, I got down on one knee and asked her the question that had been riding on my lips ever since I'd returned. "Will you marry me?"

**End: 00…Cliffie, yeah I know you hate them, but you already know the answer, right? Well it's kinda obvious.**

**Sasuke: I don't know the answer.**

**Ataraninja: Aren't you in the middle of proposing to Sakura? How'd you get over here?**

**Sasuke: Because you decided to write this for the humor of it.**

**Ataraninja: Oh yeah, right...--**

**Sasuke: It doesn't seem like it's working.**

**Ataraninja: …:P…**

**Anyways, ahem, R&R for me will ya? **

**Oh yeah, and I've almost finished my first story. Well the second one that I posted, it's called Night Walker. If you like vampires and werewolves in love, you'll like this story. It's a SasuOC fic.**


	10. Chapter 10 A Friend's Secret

Blossoming Cherry

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. **

**Intro: I know that everyone wants to know Sakura's answer, right? Well then, skip this intro and read the chapter!**

_**Chapter 10**_

…Sakura's POV…

"Sasuke, I-I don't know what to say…Yes!" I said as I wrapped my arms around him. He put the ring on my finger and I leaned into him before pressing my lips against his. He pushed me back until I bumped up against a tree. I stopped to look at where we were. It was the same tree where we had shared our first kiss five years ago. "Oh, you must think you're so smart," I said in a sly tone before Sasuke's lips covered mine once more.

I woke up and looked around. I was in the forest and…oh my god! Where were my clothes? I was covered up with Sasuke's big shirt and beside me, the said Uchiha laid beside me. It was completely dark by now and I figured that we'd been sleeping for at least a couple hours.

I shook Sasuke's shoulder lightly. "Wake up, sleepy head," I whispered. His eyelashes fluttered before he opened his dark onyx eyes and looked at me.

He looked around and smirked at me before moving his hand to feel of my bare skin that was hidden beneath his shirt. "Sasuke-kun…no wait, can't we..," I started before he moved closer and pressed his lips against mine. I couldn't say anything now, and I gave into the feel of his bare skin against mine before I was finally able to break away from his kiss. "Why don't we go back to my house, Sasuke-kun?" I asked him before he kissed me again and then looked at me with his still sleepy eyes.

"Mmm…okay," he replied as he gave in to my wishes once more. We got dressed and then walked back to my house. Once we got there, we walked up the stairs and went straight to the bedroom.

I went to take a shower while Sasuke fell asleep on my bed. When I got out, he was still sleeping so I went to my dresser and looked for my clothes. I'd just found my bra and panties when I felt two hands touch my damp skin. They started at the towel line beneath my arms and then Sasuke squeezed his fingers under the towel and made me release it. As it fell to the floor, I heard a soft chuckle come from Sasuke and he moved his hands over my "female parts."

I turned around and looked up at him with lust in my eyes. While he massaged my skin, I reached for his shirt and felt of his skin beneath it. He took it off and then grabbed onto my shoulders and swung me over onto the bed. I let out a sigh before Sasuke's lips caught me off guard once again while his hands felt of every inch of my body, and I mean _every_ inch.

With one last lust-filled glance at him, I reached down for his belt, which was the only thing holding his pants on.

The next day, I woke up to find Sasuke turned towards me. He looked so peaceful right now and I didn't want to wake him so I got out of bed silently, got some clothes on, and then went downstairs to fix breakfast.

I was just finishing when the doorbell rang. I took the eggs out of the skillet and went to the door. When I opened it, there stood an excited-looking Hinata.

"What is it, Hinata?" I asked.

"Can I come in?" she replied without stuttering. She never stuttered around me or Tenten and Ino for that matter.

"Yeah, sure. I was just about to go get Sasuke for breakfast. What are you so happy about?" I said as we went into the living room. Hinata plopped herself down on the couch and let out a sigh as she stared off into space with a wistful look on her face.

"Today has got to be the best day of my life," she said in a sigh.

"Why is that Hinata?" I asked, being as patient as possible with my friend.

"Because..," she said as she sat up. "Naruto proposed!" she exclaimed.

"Oh my god, that's wonderful. Sasuke proposed to me yesterday!" I exclaimed in reply before we both jumped up out of our chairs and hugged each other while doing a victory dance inside our heads.

"What are you girls so excited about?" an amused voice said from the base of the stairs.

…Sasuke's POV…

I woke up and smelled Sakura's cooking downstairs and so I got up out of bed, put on some pants but no shirt, and then proceeded to walk downstairs, but not before I heard girls screaming in excitement. I recognized Sakura but not the other one.

When I walked downstairs, I saw Sakura and Hinata hugging each other and jumping up and down in excitement. Amused, I asked, "What are you girls so excited about?"

I saw Hinata visibly jump at my sudden presence but Sakura just smiled at me before coming over and kissing me on the cheek. "Okay, forget I asked."

We ate our breakfast before Sakura and Hinata left together leaving me by myself. I'd probably find out from the dobe what had Hinata so excited. After the way he'd talked yesterday, I had a pretty good idea. I got dressed and then went out looking for said ninja and found him at his favorite eatery, Ichiraku's.

He was currently scarfing down his fifth bowl of ramen and the cook had already brought two more. "Hey, Naruto," I said as I walked up to my hyperactive friend.

"Hey Sasuke," he said as he finished a mouthful of ramen. "So, what's up?" he asked me looking at me in anticipation.

"Nothing today, I've only been awake for maybe two hours, dobe," I replied bluntly but I couldn't keep myself from smirking at what he was really asking. "What about you?"

"Well, I've been up for a while. Sasuke, you look like you want to ask me something," he said suddenly as his light bulb finally lit up.

"So, have you _talked_ to Hinata this morning?" I asked as my smirk widened. I was on the verge of full-out laughter when I saw his face turn cherry red at that particular question. "Just tell me, Naruto. Did she say yes?" I finally asked because it was so out of character for me to laugh.

"YES!! I was sooo…nervous! But thank Kami she said yes or I would have died."

………..

"Waaaiiitt a second…how did you know I proposed to Hinata?" he said after a moment of silence as he tried to put together this puzzle.

"Because I woke up to the screams of Hinata and Sakura, and when I came down she was blushing madly and I could only guess what you'd said after our talk yesterday," I explained simply.

"Oh. It was that obvious?" he asked.

"Hn."

…Sakura's POV…

Hinata and I had met up with Ino and Tenten shortly after leaving my house. Ino had a smug look on her face and I could tell she was totally jealous of us. Tenten, however, was just as excited as we were about it.

"You guys, that's great! You must feel like the luckiest girls on Earth right now..," she said with wide excited eyes.

"Yeah, well…it's nothing special. Shikamaru might've proposed by now but he's too lazy to go shop for the ring. Hell, I wouldn't care if he didn't get me one as long as he proposed," Ino said irritably.

I was starting to get suspicious of Ino's behavior right about now. Lately she'd been acting kind of weird, like not drinking any alcohol, which was weird because Ino was normally a heavy drinker especially at parties. Also, her mood had been…well, quite bitchy. My mom had told me once that she was like that too,…when she was pregnant with me.

I eyed her warily, thinking about it. Normally, Ino would've insisted that Shikamaru buy her the biggest and most beautiful ring he could afford, so why was she saying that she didn't care. I also knew that Ino's mom would freak if Ino had a baby without being married. Before I could say anything, she'd stood up and turned to leave.

"Sorry guys, I've got to go. My mom has me working at the flower shop today," she said as she turned sideways and then I saw it. A slight and barely noticeable bump but it was there. I know it wasn't just Ino getting fat, because Ino was never fat. She would starve herself for a week if she gained two pounds. _No wonder she wants Shikamaru to propose so bad. She's pregnant! _I thought to myself as she walked away.

"Wait, Ino! I'm coming with you," I said to Ino who was almost out of earshot by now. "See you later guys," I added to Hinata and Tenten.

I ran to catch up with Ino who had continued walking but at a slower pace. "Ino, I'm coming with you," I told her.

"Why? I'm just going to work, really Sakura you don't have to come!" she replied quickly and I could tell she was nervous.

"But I want to come, Ino. I'm your best friend, aren't I?"

"Yes…"

"And so, why can't I spend more time with you since I don't have to work today?" I asked.

"Because,…I have to g-…work today," she replied with uncertainty.

"Alright Ino, where are you really going? And don't say the flower shop, because you're lying," I said standing in front of her so she had to look me in the eyes.

"Um…man…I wanted to go when you wouldn't be there, I…um…I'm going to…the hospital," she muttered as if she still didn't want to tell me.

"Why did you want to go to the hospital when I wasn't there?" I asked, still playing dumb. I wanted her to tell me on her own terms.

"Because, I'm not sure but…I think I'm pregnant," she said and then looked down.

"So that's why you don't care if Shikamaru gives you a ring or not, huh?" I asked looking at her sympathetically.

"Yes, I-I need to find out for sure before I tell him but I was hoping he would go ahead and propose before I told him. I'm afraid that if I tell him before, then he'll feel rushed into getting married and I don't want that. You understand right?"

"Yeah, I get it. But you could have told me, Ino. I can keep a secret, at least until you know for sure. I promise I won't tell anyone about it until you say I can," I said giving her a big hug before we went to the hospital together.

**End: I was going to write more but I forgot what I was going to write so I'll just stop it here since this seems like a good place. Review Please!**


	11. Chapter 11 Another Happy Couple

Blossoming Cherry

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. **

**Intro: So Ino is pregnant and Sakura has promised to keep it a secret for a while. But what about Shikamaru? Will he propose to Ino or continue to be a lazy-ass and not do anything?**

_**Chapter 11**_

…Sasuke's POV…

I was getting ready to leave Ichiraku's when I recognized a familiar figure coming towards us. His dark hair up in a high ponytail told me that it was Shikamaru. He lazily walked up with his hands in his pockets and sat down next to me. "Hey Naruto, Sasuke," he said lazily. I had a feeling that he'd just woken up from a nap. "Have you guys seen Ino?" he asked looking over in our direction.

"No, but Sakura probably has. Why?" I asked looking at him curiously.

"Well, I had wanted to talk to her…but I can't find her."

"You wanted to _talk_ to her?" Naruto said with emphasis on the word "talk." He was smirking as he looked at me. I smirked back, knowing what he was implying.

"Yeah…What about it?" Shikamaru said, trying to hide his own smirk.

"Mind if I ask what you wanted to talk to her about?" I asked. His smirk hadn't gone unnoticed by either me or Naruto.

"Um…well…I was going to…uh..," Shikamaru started saying but just then Neji walked up.

"Hey guys have you seen Tenten?" he asked in a monotone voice.

I rolled my eyes. "No, why?" I asked but not before seeing Shikamaru let out a breath of relief.

"Well, we were supposed to be training together today, but I can't find her."

_Well, this is odd_, I thought to myself. "Well, have any of you seen Sakura?" I asked them. Everyone looked at me but Naruto was making a weird expression like he was thinking.

"What about Hinata?" he asked.

Shikamaru and Neji shook their heads. "Nope, neither of them," Shikamaru said and Neji nodded his head in agreement.

"Maybe we should go look for them," Naruto said. He received two "hn"s and one "troublesome" in reply.

…Sakura's POV…

I had convinced Ino that we should probably tell Tenten and Hinata about it too. So when we got to the hospital, I called Tenten on my cell phone.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey Tenten. Is Hinata with you?"

"Yeah..," she answered uncertainly.

"Well, can you two come to the hospital right now?"

"Okay, but what's the problem?" she asked getting a little worried.

"Just come and we'll tell you when you get here," I answered reassuringly.

"Who's we?" she asked.

"Ino and I," I answered.

"Oh, okay. We'll be there."

"Bye," I said with finality and hung up the phone.

A few minutes later, the two kunoichis were walking through the front doors of the hospital. "Over here!" I exclaimed waving to them as they walked over to us.

"So what were you going to tell us?" Tenten asked looking from me to Ino.

"Well…um…I think…I might be pregnant," Ino said looking down.

"Well that's great, Ino!" Tenten exclaimed.

"No, it's not Tenten! You think everything is great, but maybe you're just too optimistic! You're so annoying sometimes!" Ino said with an angry expression on her face. She had to be pregnant. Normally, she'd never go off on Tenten, Hinata, or me. She was in a really bad mood.

Tenten had tears coming out of her eyes. "Well, if that's how you feel, then I'll just leave!" she said getting mad at how Ino had treated her. She only wanted to be supportive of her friend, we all knew that. Ino knew that, she was just…moody. Before anyone could stop her, Tenten had run out of the hospital in tears.

"Yamanaka Ino, the doctor will see you now," the secretary said from behind her desk. We all walked in silently, neither me nor Hinata wanting to start a conversation right now.

…Sasuke's POV…

We had decided to check the park since that's where the girls usually hung out. We searched all over but didn't see them. Just as we were getting ready to leave, someone ran in front of us and into the park. The girl had what looked like a pink kimono top on. "Tenten!" Neji exclaimed. But the girl was too busy crying to hear him. "Come on," he said as he went after her.

When we finally caught up with her, Naruto, Shikamaru, and I stayed behind and let Neji talk to her. But I still happened to catch parts of their conversation.

"Tenten, what happened?" Neji said in a soft, caring voice. Wait, did I hear that right? Neji talking in a caring voice?!

"W-well, I-Ino and Sakura c-called me and s-said that they w-were at the hospital a-and they w-wanted me and H-Hinata to come b-because they had to t-tell us something. When we got there, Ino said that she might b-be..," Tenten said through her tears. The last word she said so quietly that none of us could hear it.

After a few minutes, they stood up and came walking back to where we were standing. Tenten had stopped crying but her eyes were still red as she came over holding onto Neji's hand. "They're at the hospital," he said flatly.

…Sakura's POV…

We were waiting for the doctor to get back with the results of her pregnancy test when Ino all of a sudden started crying. "What's wrong Ino?" I asked anxiously.

"Why did I do that? Now Tenten will hate me for sure," she said as she was crying big tears wetting her shirt.

"She won't hate you. She may be upset but she'll forgive you Ino. I know she will," I said encouragingly.

After Ino stopped crying, it was about ten minutes before anyone said anything. The doctor came back in with a sheet of paper in her hand. "Ms. Yamanaka Ino, your results came back and…congratulations, you're three months pregnant."

This just caused Ino to stare down at her almost flat stomach. Now even Hinata noticed her slight bulge around her stomach area. "Don't worry about it Ino. I'm sure he'll propose soon," I whispered to my friend causing her to look up at me and smile shyly.

Just as soon as we'd had our girly moment, we heard voices outside the door. The first person to appear was Shikamaru who immediately went over to Ino and asked her what happened. She whispered, "I'll tell you later."

"That's enough. You don't all have to go in there do you?" a nurse was saying and I heard Naruto's loud booming voice.

"This is really a great way to treat your future Hokage, lady!"

"I don't care if you're Orlando Bloom, you're not going in there," she said before entering the room herself and closing the door behind her. Hinata and I stood up and left the room leaving just Shikamaru and Ino in the room together.

"Hinata, what happened? Is something wrong? Did someone get hurt?" Naruto started asking as soon as Hinata appeared.

"S-Slow down Naruto-kun. I'll tell you on your way walking me back to my house," Hinata said as she grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him away from us.

"Sakura, is she going to be all right?" Tenten asked quietly.

"Yeah, she'll be fine. It'll just take a while for her to adjust to everything. She's sorry for yelling at you, by the way."

"It's okay…I know she didn't mean it. That's just Ino's moody side. I feel sorry for Shikamaru now," Tenten said with a grin. Neji couldn't hide his own smirk at that revelation.

"Okay..," Sasuke said. I could tell he was totally confused. Tenten and I started laughing all of a sudden and the Hyuuga next to her couldn't hide the amusement reflected in his usually emotionless white eyes.

"I'll tell you later, now come on," I said still laughing a bit at Sasuke's embarrassment.

…With Ino and Shikamaru…

Thirty minutes later, Ino and Shikamaru walked out of the office together. Shikamaru had his hand rested in the small of her back and wore an expression of pure shock and disbelief. His girlfriend was pregnant, and he hadn't even gotten the courage to propose to her yet.

He led her away from the hospital and into the park. They stopped on the bridge overlooking a crystal clear pond. Both were silent for a while, neither knowing just the right words to say. Shikamaru looked down. What Ino didn't know was that his eyes were focused on his right pant pocket. He weighed his options back and forth, trying to figure out how to say what he was about to say. Finally, he looked up at Ino and asked, "You know I love you right?"

Ino looked, with tearful eyes, and said, "Of course I do Shika-kun! I love you too."

"Well, I don't want you to think that I'm only saying this because of the big news. It's something that's actually been on my mind for a while. And well, I got this gift for you about a week ago, but I wasn't sure what to say when I gave it to you..," Shikamaru muttered in a very rambling sort of way that only Ino could've understood.

"Yeah…" Ino said with big eyes as she waited for him to say it.

"Well, Ino..," Shikamaru started as he reached in his right pant pocket. "I love you and…" He pulled out a little black box. "I want you to marry me." He opened the box to reveal a sparkling gold ring with a bright blue sapphire in the shape of a heart and a string of diamonds on both sides of the center stone.

At that moment, Ino's eyes sparkled brighter than the high quality stone that represented Shikamaru's love for her. "Of course I'll marry you, Shikamaru! I love you, too," she said with tears in her eyes as she held out her left hand. Shikamaru slid the ring onto her ring finger and it was a perfect fit, just as their love for each other was. As they embraced in a hug, each one knew that nothing could tear them apart.

**End: Really sweet ending to a great chapter, right? Okay, so I know this whole chapter was basically InoShika centric but don't worry, the main characters are still Sakura and Sasuke. There will be more drama on that page shortly. Mwuahahaha! Oh the goodness I have planned for them. There may be a time skip, it all depends on what I feel like doing or what great ideas come to mind. I generally do not extend my stories past twenty chapters. I still have to do all of the wedding scenes and some big news on some of the other pairings. I can't tell you all about that, however. Mwuahahahaha! Okay, I just felt like doing the evil laugh that time for fun. **

**Okay, I know that some people have probably already read this chapter, but here's something new I'm adding, dun dun dun dun dun duuuun! A preview!! It is from my latest Naruto fanfic, **_**The Ties of Frozen Leaves.**_

"Dark Mountain is gaining more power as we speak, Lady Tarento! We must do something. When they attack in three months, we will be annihilated. All of our women, children, and even pets, will be slaughtered at their merciless hands. If they don't kill us, they will convert us to their dark ways, and that, my lady, is _worse_ than _death!_" an older council member said with exasperation in his crackly old voice.

Aisu Tarento, the Sunokage of the village simply continued to stare blankly at the status report sitting on the table in front of her. All of the elders were waiting for a response. With a calm, feathery voice, she replied, "I am well aware of this fact Council member Hayashi, and I have a plan."

"What is it, then?" a younger council member with cropped black hair and big arms asked in a husky voice.

"We cannot win this war alone now. I have denied it until this moment, but now I see. With our small numbers, we are no match for Dark Mountain. We must ask for help, and there's only one village I know of that can supply us with the help we need—Konohagakure."

**Well, I hope you all liked the preview and I want to see lots of reviewers for this OC centric fanfic. It is action based, but there will be romance on the side. I can't tell you who all of the pairings will be but I will say that OC's will be hooking up over the course of the story. When you get to the second chapter, you'll probably find out who the main one will consist of. There won't be nearly as much fluff as this story but I will add some towards the end. I promise. Well, R&R, and don't hate, appreciate!**


	12. Chapter 12 Dark Motives Revealed

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. **

**Intro: Well, now you know that Ino's engaged to Shikamaru, Hinata's engaged to Naruto, and Sakura's engaged to Sasuke. Well, the last two are still the main characters and this story is still about them.**

_**Chapter 12**_

…Sasuke's POV…

After Sakura and I had gotten home, she'd told me about Ino and Shikamaru's predicament. Despite Tsunade's threats of castration, he wished that Sakura could be the next one to receive the good news. That's when I thought, _What about the wedding plans? Sakura and I haven't gotten the chance to talk about since I proposed the night before last._

Now, looking at my fiancé in the morning light, I thought about waking her to talk about it, but then decided I'd just watch her sleep. Then, suddenly, my stomach growled loudly, and Sakura stirred beside me. I hadn't even realized I was hungry, but it was as if Sakura was so in tune with my body that she could sense the impulses that were coursing through my abdomen. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at my face and then at my stomach, and she smiled before giving a sleepy yawn.

She scooted closer to me and it looked like she would go back to sleep, before she asked, "What do you want for breakfast?"

"You don't have to get up, you know. I could fix my own breakfast," I replied gently.

Sakura gave me a glare as if that idea was outrageous. "Don't be silly, I will cook your breakfast," she replied in a firm tone, as she backed away in order to sit up. I sat up as well, and we both sat cross-legged on the bed, facing each other.

"Okay then, but I'm going to help you," I replied in a much softer voice than hers. By agreeing to let her cook but demanding that she accept my help, I was giving in to her but not giving her all of the control. She smiled at me before resting her head beneath my chin.

Then, I saw her furrow her brows as she pulled her head away from me slightly. Her fingers were rested on my chest and I had to turn my head to an uncomfortable angle to see what she was looking at. Right over my left pectoral muscle and going diagonal across my chest was the lasting scar from Itachi's attack. Sakura had seen it before, but for some reason she couldn't stop looking at it with those concerned emerald orbs of hers. Maybe, because of what we'd always been doing when she saw it, she never noticed it that much.

"You almost died, you know," she said in a quiet voice through the tears that were starting to form in her eyes. She ran her hand along the one-inch wide scar that was positioned only millimeters away from my heart. "When we arrived on the scene, you were just laying there, an inch from death. This wound was the worst of them, because Itachi had cut through the Superior Vena Cava that takes the blood to your heart from your upper body. Without it, the blood couldn't get pumped back through your heart and to your cells, including those in your heart. But just an inch more to the left…," she said, running her finger across to the position she was talking about. She continued, "…and he would have severed your Aorta, the largest artery in your entire body. If he would have cut that artery, you would have bled out long before we'd gotten there. The steady pumping of your heart, in its attempt to save you, would have caused your demise."

Her tears had now fallen from her eyes and streamed down her face and she now had the palm of her hand lying on top of the permanent scar. "Why didn't Tsunade mention this when she discharged me?" I asked, wondering why the Hokage had failed to mention this critical piece of information. That would've explained why I was out of it for three days.

"Because I didn't tell her…," Sakura said as more tears fell from her eyes.

"Why not?" I asked, knowing that Sakura could get in trouble for doing something like that.

"I guess it was for the same reason that you didn't send me that letter until after you'd already left. I was afraid that she'd get in the way of me saving you," she said, looking at me with bloodshot eyes.

"Sakura…," I said before putting my left hand on top of hers, which was still resting on my scar, and pulled it away in an attempt to draw her closer to me. Her head rested in the crook of my neck once more as her tears began to flow freely. I could feel as they ran down my bare chest and caught on the bump that the scar had created. I kind of tickled but I had to resist all urges of laughter because of the serious mood Sakura was in right now. Then a thought occurred to me. Tsunade was a way more experienced healer than Sakura. How had she not realized the severity of the wound on her own?

"How is it that Tsunade didn't realize that the wound was so severe?" I asked Sakura suddenly, making her stop crying suddenly. I was a bit surprised when she let out a sob-filled laugh at my question.

"You didn't think I'd let you die, did you?" she asked looking at me.

"Of course not, but—," I started before she cut me off.

"As soon as I reached you, I noticed the blood staining your shirt around your heart and I immediately started to heal that area. Although Itachi batted me away from you within seconds, I'd had just enough time to piece the tissues of your vein back together, which slowed the bleeding. And Tsunade started healing the guys on the other side of the clearing, so she wasn't there while I was healing that wound. I take it that she assumed it hadn't been deep enough to reach your heart or that the blow hadn't gotten past your ribcage, because she didn't ask questions. She just went on about taking care of the rest of your cuts once we got to the hospital."

"What about the others?" I asked, wondering if Tsunade had simply abandoned them in order to save my life.

"Well…you were clearly Itachi's main target, because none of the blows to the rest of them were nearly as deep or in critical areas of the body. The worst one was a cut that Yurasu received to the stomach, but even that wasn't very deep. They were easily handled by the lower ranking medics, but it took Tsunade, Shizune and me to heal all of your wounds."

"He'd meant to kill me," I said in a cold voice as I thought about the meanings of Sakura's words. "But he didn't finish me off…and he let Enkou escape, knowing that he would head for Konoha…He was trying to lure you to me!" I said suddenly, as realization hit me like a five-thousand-pound anvil.

Sakura's eyes were now clear of all tears and wide like mine. "So that means…what he did to me…" She puts her hand on her stomach. "It wall all in his plan. Come to think of it, he knew, without anyone telling him, that we were together…and he knew just how close we were to try and prevent an Uchiha pregnancy. He's really serious about not wanting more of the Uchiha sort," she said as she, too, began to fully understand his motives.

"What do you mean 'of the Uchiha sort'?" I asked, wondering what Itachi had said to Sakura about the Uchiha clan.

"He said that he didn't expect a comeback of their murderous kind," Sakura explained while obviously trying not to offend me by speaking so horribly of my clan. But then again, she wasn't. Itachi was. He'd talked about his own clan in that way.

"Our murderous kind?! He's the only murderer in the Uchiha clan. So there was Madara who is known as the bad guy in all of the history books, but other than that, no one else was ever that evil!" I exclaimed, outraged that Itachi would accuse the entire clan of being murderous.

Even more serious than that, was that he was still out there. If he was really serious about not bringing back the Uchiha clan, there was no doubt in my mind that he would attack Sakura again. I had to do something to protect her, but what? Leaving would not be a good option at the time, so I didn't even consider that, but what to do? Coming up with no conclusions at the moment, I leaned over to give Sakura a reassuring kiss on the lips, which she only half-heartedly returned. Based on her facial expression, she was scared half-to-death about the exact same thing I was.

After getting that off of our minds, we'd resolved to spend the rest of our free day talking about wedding plans. Sakura had to schedule all of her shopping trips and planning sessions for the weekends, since she worked throughout the week. She really was an organized person, I soon realized. The first thing she did was make a chart with all of the dates on it, and the activities that she would engage herself in for that day, making sure that she could have everything in perfect order.

She made several phone calls in that same day, mostly to caterers and decorators to find out what they charged for various items: items that she'd made lists of ahead of time. She'd made a list of various appetizers, entres, and cake types that she would like to have. She'd already made a list a few days ago, she claimed, of all of her friends and other guests food allergies, making sure that no one would get sick from eating the food.

I helped out as much as I could, but for the most part, Sakura had the whole thing handled. And once she knew when she could have everything ready, we could set the date for the wedding. The only thing that worried the two of us was the stipulations that would be placed on an Uchiha wedding. Would the Hokage and the council require that the wedding be made available to the public, or would they allow a private wedding? I told Sakura that I would ask Tsunade later, but for now, we could just talk about locations and decorations, things that we could choose whether it was a private or public wedding.

At about five o' clock, the doorbell rang. Sakura and I looked up from the magazines we'd been looking at, and I motioned for her to stay while I answered the door. When I opened it, there was that brown-haired girl again. She held out a scroll this time, which I took, and then she ran off again.

I closed the door and went back to the couch. "A mission?" Sakura asked me, looking at the scroll curiously.

"I guess," I replied as I opened it. I read the first line silently before stopping. "They're sending me and five other shinobi on an A-rank mission. We'll be gone for a while because it's far away, by the looks of it," I told Sakura, looking at her with a serious face. Her eyes were clouded with sorrow.

"Who else are they sending?" she asked me, looking down at the magazine with empty eyes.

I read a couple more lines. "It doesn't say. We're supposed to meet tomorrow at eight A.M. at the Hokage's office. I guess I'll find out then."

"But what about…," she started, before her voice trailed off.

"Do you have anyone you can stay with?" I asked, knowing what she meant. With me gone, Sakura would be in her house by herself again, and therefore vulnerable to Itachi if he chose to strike again.

"I don't know. It depends on who goes with you guys. I couldn't stay with my mother. That would put her in danger, too," Sakura said quietly.

"I'll talk to Tsunade-sama about it. Maybe, she will have a suggestion," I said with a resolve as I leaned over and wrapped my left arm around Sakura's shoulder. She leaned into me and I just held her there for a while, neither of us saying a word, but both of our minds rattling about the dangers that this mission could cause.

**End: Well, there's another chapter. And for those who had forgotten about the engagement, shame on you! With the realization of Itachi's motives, a new thought creeps into the minds of Sakura and Sasuke, and now Sasuke won't be able to protect her from him, should something happen. There will be about a three month time skip for the next chapter. R&R plz!!!**


	13. Chapter 13 Alone and Endangered

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. **

**Intro: Here's the next chapter. Don't forget, I mentioned a time skip. It will probably take place about halfway through since the chapter will start the morning after the last chapter.**

_**Chapter 13**_

…Sakura's POV…

I followed Sasuke up the steps to the Hokage Tower. It was almost 7:45 now, and the meeting would be at 8:00. As we walked up the steps, we saw Ino and Shikamaru ahead of us, walking through the doors. Once we arrived in the building, we saw more familiar faces around the waiting area. Naruto and Hinata were both dressed in their ninja clothes, along with Neji, TenTen, and Shikamaru. They all turned around as Sasuke and I walked into the room.

Ino pulled herself away from Shikamaru's grip and came to give me a hug. "Seems like you and I are the only ones left, Sakura-chan!" she exclaimed happily. She was in an unusually good mood today, but then again, you couldn't really predict Ino's moods these days.

After only a few minutes, Shizune came walking down the hall into the room. "Good, you're all here! Lady Tsunade will meet with you now," she said, addressing those that were going on the mission.

The five that were assigned to the mission walked down the hall, while Ino and I trailed behind. When they went inside the Hokage's office, we waited outside for them.

About ten minutes after they'd disappeared behind the oak door, it was flung open and all but Sasuke exited the room. Ino said goodbye to me as she followed Shikamaru out of the building. Sasuke motioned for me to join him, and I walked in the room.

"Is there some other business you need with me, Mr. Uchiha?" Tsunade asked peering over her glass of sake at the two of us.

"After what happened a few days ago, I am worried about Sakura's well being. We've finally pieced together Itachi's motives from the attack. He'd meant to lure Sakura to me in an attempt to annihilate any chances of her bearing an Uchiha child and from the looks of things, he will go to extreme measures to ensure that this does not happen. Being that I will not be here for such a long period of time, and that Naruto will also not be available to watch over her, I'm asking you as the Hokage to arrange a place for Sakura to stay somewhere safe," he explained while Tsunade watched him with unwavering eyes.

"I understand what you are saying…," she started. I could sense a "but" coming along, however. "…but our shinobi forces are very spread out at the moment. I don't think that we could easily arrange a high security protection for one girl."

"But Tsunade-sama! You must understand that Itachi is capable of killing Sakura if he so pleases. Somehow, he knew without anyone telling him that Sakura and I were together. He had unseen knowledge of our relationship status in order to go to the measures that he did. That in itself suggests that Itachi has been spying on us somehow, which means that he was here, in Konoha!"

"Now that is a more pressing matter. You truly think that Itachi has been spying on you two, himself?" Tsunade asked us.

"The only other person that would do it for him is his partner Kisame, and I'm pretty sure that someone would have noticed a blue fish-looking guy walking around the village," Sasuke said sarcastically although he was still serious about the matter at hand.

"If that is the case, Sakura…you should stay with Ino until Sasuke's return. At least that way, you won't be alone. That in itself should make Itachi less likely to attack you. Second, I will alert the ANBU of the situation and have a few sentries on duty around the village 24/7. Itachi is considered an S-class criminal in Konoha, and we will not take any threats made by him lightly. Are there any more questions?" she asked, surveying us with dark curious eyes.

"Um…well, Sasuke and I were wondering about our wedding. Does it have to be a public wedding or can we choose?" I asked timidly. It felt weird to break the stony atmosphere with something such as wedding plans, but this _was_ important.

"Of course you can choose!...Just as long as I'm invited," she exclaimed before giving me a warm smile, and then taking another swig of her sake.

I smiled at her and then looked at Sasuke. His eyes held a look of relief and amusement in them. I grabbed his hand before leading him out of Tsunade's office, giving her a wave of goodbye on my way out.

When we got to the waiting area, I was surprised to see Ino and Shikamaru waiting there still. When she saw me, Ino sat up from her chair and walked over to me with a large smile on her face. "What are you guys still doing here?" I asked her curiously.

"I just wanted to wait for you, and lazy-ass over there wouldn't leave without me," she explained.

"Um…Ino, you don't mind if I stay with you while Sasuke and the others are gone, do you?" I asked, hoping she wouldn't refuse.

"Of course not! With Shikamaru gone, I'll have no one to talk to. This will be great: we can paint each others nails, talk about wedding plans, go shopping,…and all kinds of other good stuff!" she said, when she couldn't think of anything else that we could do while at her house.

"Great, I'll get my clothes after everyone leaves and we can start doing all of those things on your mental checklist," I said enthusiastically.

"Women…" Sasuke said from behind me, while shaking his head. Although his statement would say that he was annoyed, he was smirking at us in amusement, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him.

An hour later, we were waving goodbye to all of the ninja that had been chosen for the mission. Sasuke turned and gave me one last loving look before smirking and waving goodbye to me. Ino and I watched them all walk away until they went over a hill and disappeared from our sight.

Ino put her hand on my shoulder and we walked back inside the gates where Tsunade was waiting for us. "Well, girls, they're gone. Konoha seems much more relaxed without all of that extra testosterone floating in the air, doesn't it?" she said merrily.

Ino and I smiled at my former sensei before Tsunade put her arm around my shoulders and breathed a deep sigh of relief. I shook my head. Obviously I was a magnet for attention. I wondered if it had anything to do with my hair color.

The three of us walked back into the village and we parted ways with Tsunade as Ino and I went back to my house to pack my clothes for the next few weeks. After we did that, we headed back to Ino's house to start working on that checklist of "Things to do on Sakura and Ino's day in."

It had been two and a half months, nearing two and three-quarters actually. We had received no word back from the Konoha nins that had left almost three months ago, but we assumed that they were okay. The mission was located in a country far from Konoha, and we could expect to be out of communications with them for a while but I still couldn't help but worry about Sasuke and the others.

Ino was just the same. She had become a nervous wreck after two weeks of not seeing Shikamaru. Her belly was growing at a rapid pace as she was now almost five months into her pregnancy. I had to keep telling her to calm down, and keep her away from alcohol and pain pills of course. Ino had never been a bad drinker or drug abuser, but this ordeal was proving that stress can get to the best of us.

I suppose it was due to Ino's constant nervousness and bickering with herself that I soon fell ill. I was running a fever and I kept puking at random intervals. This had gone on for about a week. I figured maybe I caught the flu, so I decided to turn in to bed early tonight.

"I'm going to bed Ino," I said in a sickly voice. My throat and nose were clear but I was weak from not being able to hold down any food and it was putting a strain on my body. It was only seven in the afternoon, but it felt like I'd been awake for twenty four hours straight, I was so tired.

"Okay, I'll just go see if Tsunade has heard anything from the others. Okay?" she called back from the kitchen.

"Yeah, okay..," I said letting my guard down. For the past two months it had been relatively quiet and Ino and I had separated many times. I felt as though nothing could possibly go wrong now. Sasuke and the others should be back soon, and then Itachi wouldn't dare make his move. With that thought in mind I fell asleep almost instantly as my head touched the pillow.

**End: There's another chapter. So, what do you think will happen next? Review and share your thoughts, you know you want to! Don't worry, I won't laugh (okay I'll try not to) if you say something totally crazy like, "Sasuke's going to get killed by Akamaru because he stole his food pills!" You know that **_**would**_** be funny….**


	14. Chapter 14 Rescue On Its Way

**Blossoming Cherry**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. **

**Intro: Here's the next chapter. So Sakura is sick and she's gone to take a nap, but what will happen while she's asleep? You have to read to find out. Mwuahahaha!!!**

_**Chapter 14**_

…Normal POV…

Since Ino had left ten minutes ago, it had begun to rain. What started as a light drizzle had turned into a downpour that held the blonde inside the Hokage tower. Outside the young Yamanaka's house, a tree battered against the guest bedroom window where a pink-haired girl was sleeping soundly.

She was fast asleep and it was no wonder that she didn't hear the soft footsteps of a man right outside the bedroom door. It was also no surprise that she didn't hear as his ring clanked against the metal of the doorknob as he slowly, silently turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.

It let out a small creak as the metal hinges rubbed against the metal pin holding them together and the girl stirred. The man in the doorway froze for a second, but when the girl simply turned over on her side away from him he smirked. Of course, she wasn't a ninja so she wouldn't feel his chakra presence as he walked into the room quiet as a mouse. _How pathetic_, he thought to himself as he hovered over her.

…

She'd stirred in her sleep because she'd heard something or at least she thought she did. A small creaking noise had interrupted her dream, but she simply assumed it was Ino since it was followed by silence. She'd probably come to tell her that Tsunade hadn't heard anything yet and when she saw her friend asleep she left.

That was before Sakura felt chakra radiating from a figure right over the top of her. She tried to hide her panic; that wasn't Ino's chakra. It seemed full of hatred and spite and radiated around the figure's body like flames, while Ino's was more of a low hum.

She was defenseless if this was someone of concern, someone like…Itachi. She had to stop herself from squealing. Of course, it was him. His chakra had felt like fire before when he punched her and she could feel it—the anger, the hatred. Every particle and atom of his body hated her for being the sex partner of his little brother.

He was determined to do anything to stop the clan's revival, even if it meant killing her and any children that she and Sasuke created. Her thoughts drifted back to her sickness, the sickness that had put her in the bed to begin with. She didn't feel as though she had a cold and her highly learned mind told her that she hadn't come down with any of the usual viruses that ailed people, causing puking and nausea. Could she be pregnant?

She and Sasuke hadn't used protection and she didn't deem it necessary. They were engaged. If she got pregnant she could easily plan a quick wedding and marry Sasuke before anyone could say otherwise. Besides, Sasuke had said himself that he did want to raise a family with her, and she had agreed to help him with his goals.

Suddenly, the need to find a way out of this situation became more desperate than before. She had to be pregnant, she just had too. It was the only explanation for her sickness and the latest mood swings. Before now, she'd placed the blame for her mood swings on Ino's mood swings, something about them rubbing off on her.

Sakura remembered that she'd brought her cutlass with her to Ino's just in case of an attack. If she reached for it, Itachi would more than likely grab her and knowing Uchihas the way she did, he'd probably use a teleportation jutsu and carry her along with him. Sure he'd take the weapon away from her, but if she could ever get to it, she'd have something to protect herself with.

With sudden resolve, she opened her eyes and grabbed the sheathed cutlass from under her pillow. Just as she'd planned Itachi jerked her up from her bed and used a teleportation jutsu. As Sakura blacked out, she could only loop the string attached to the sheath around her wrist so that she didn't lose her only manner of protection once she reached point B with the elder Uchiha who'd abducted her.

…Sakura's POV…

I awoke to find that I was sitting on a cold stone floor. My hair had fallen into my face during my slumber so I tried to push it out of the way with my hands…only to find them shackled and tied by short chains to the stone wall behind me. The same was true for my feet although the chains that held them were much longer.

I tested a kick but the chains were too short. No way would I be able to kick my way out of this situation. "Now, now Sakura-san…," a dark voice said from the shadows across from me. I couldn't help but scream as ruby red eyes came into my view.

I didn't even have time to react before a kunai pierced through my stomach. Pain seared through my abdomen and, as blood pooled around me and soaked my clothes, it spread to the rest of my body. "No!" I screamed as I tried to break free of the Tsukiyomi. I knew it was a genjutsu because I'd seen the Mangekyou Sharingan just before the kunai had pierced my skin, but I couldn't help but scream in pain. "Stop it!" I yelled at the cold-hearted, empty-eyed Uchiha in front of me.

"But Sakura-san…you were thinking of escaping," Itachi's sickeningly sweet devilish voice came into my ear as I began to cry. He was right next to me in seconds, his hot breath on my neck. For a second I feared what he was doing to me outside of the genjutsu.

I had to stop myself from thinking that he might be stripping me of my clothes right now, ready to rape me so that Sasuke wouldn't want anything to do with me anymore. Of course he wouldn't do that. He didn't want to risk a Uchiha clan comeback, it was evident by his past and present actions. Making me see the kunai plunged into my abdomen was clearly a warning.

"So how is it between you and little Sasuke nowadays?" he hissed out, his hot breath beating down on my neck.

"That's none of your business!" I exclaimed as I tried to bite his nose, that being the only part of him close enough for me to attempt such a thing. When I did, he jammed his finger into the part of my nose where it met my upper lip. I let go of him immediately as my nose began to bleed. Itachi pulled himself away from me and I noticed the red mark on his nose where my teeth had sunk into his flesh. With his eyes narrowed at me, he pulled his hand back and slapped me across my face leaving a throbbing spot on my left cheek.

"You whore! I ask you a simple question and you try to bite me. Why I ought to…but I won't…because I want to see little Sasuke crumble at the sight of your beaten and bruised body. I want to see him fall apart when the nurse tells you that you've had a miscarriage and that you will never be able to have children. And most of all, I want to see him leave you stranded and by yourself and him alone and confused. He will suffer for what he has done. Trying to bring more Uchihas into this world is like trying to cause the Apocalypse! All that we bring with us is hatred, despair, and murder. Why can you not see that Sakura?!" Itachi exclaimed, shaking all over his body. I couldn't tell if it was in excitement or just anxiety about what would happen to Sasuke and I if Itachi had his way.

"So what are you going to do to me?" I asked even though the pain of the kunai in my stomach still coursed through my body.

"I'm going to wait,…for your little Sasuke to come to rescue you. By then, the damage will have already been done, and you'll be nothing to fight for," Itachi said as he finally released me from the genjutsu. I just lowered my face and began to cry.

…Normal POV…

The guards looked out at the empty stretch leading to the gate, where on a distant hill six figures could be seen approaching the gates. One of them pulled out a spotting scope and set it up on the wall, looking at the figures. "It's them, the Konoha shinobi have returned! Alert Lady Tsunade immediately!"

"Hai!" the other guard said, as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves. From the looks of it, all of the shinobi were in good condition and it was a good thing too. They were going to need all their strength after they finished their meeting with Lady Tsunade.

"Well, I'm glad that mission's over! It seems like it took forever," Naruto exclaimed as he rested his arm on Hinata's shoulders. The Hyuuga heir was blushing madly as he planted a sweet kiss on her cheek.

"Just imagine how much longer it seemed for those of us who don't have our lovers with us," Shikamaru muttered under his breath. If Sasuke hadn't been so anxious to see Sakura, he would have smirked.

Suddenly Sasuke stiffened and he looked ahead to the gates of Konoha. Something wasn't right, he could sense it. Standing at the gate was Tsunade, her hands on her hips from the looks of it. She was troubled, Sasuke could tell. He sped up, pumping chakra into his feet so he could run faster. The others simply looked at him with curious expressions, looked toward the gate, and then followed suit.

When Sasuke reached Tsunade, she said curtly, "Come to my office immediately."

"What's happened?!" Sasuke exclaimed in a threatening tone.

"We shouldn't talk about it here. Come to my office,…and bring Naruto," Tsunade said turning away.

Sasuke started to demand answers, but then he turned and motioned to Naruto, who ran to his side. "What's wrong Sasuke-teme?"

"I don't know, but we have to go see Tsunade," Sasuke said as he turned to leave. Naruto nodded curtly as he followed his teammate to the Hokage Tower.

Sakura was unconscious, lying on the stone floor with bruises all over her body. Itachi had hit her every day for the past three days. It was part of his so-called plan to make it seem like she'd been beaten for a much longer period of time than she really had, therefore making Sasuke even more angry with himself for not getting to her sooner.

Itachi had cut her across her stomach, not deep enough to do any damage, but still deep enough to cause profuse bleeding. Sakura tried to heal the wound, but the chains kept her from being able to reach the wound so the healing was patchy, leaving gaps where it didn't heal properly.

When she'd tried to heal herself, Itachi just smirked in that evil way and said, "It doesn't matter how much you heal yourself. The damage is done, you can't erase it." She didn't understand what he meant by that. The wound wasn't deep enough to reach her womb, and he hadn't punched her in the stomach at all. What damage was he referring to?

Sakura dreamt of warm memories and future ones with Sasuke despite her situation. She was dreaming of the trip to the hospital where she would be told that she was pregnant. She was smiling and Sasuke was hugging her and trying to hold back tears of happiness while she was just letting them fall all over his white shirt. She only wished that could be happening now instead of her spending her days in this prison cell.

…Inside Tsunade's Office…

"HE DID WHAT?!!!" the Uchiha's enraged voice rang out through the halls of the tower, making Shizune, who was on the ground floor, drop the papers she was holding in surprise.

"Sasuke--," Tsunade started as the Uchiha turned to leave the office. Naruto reacted immediately, jumping into his friends path. He held out his hand and Sasuke walked into it. Naruto's hand was pressed up against Sasuke's chest now, and he stopped with his head lowered.

"Get out of the way, Naruto..," he said in a cold voice that appeared emotionless. But Naruto knew better. He knew how much it hurt the Uchiha to think that Sakura was in Itachi's evil grasp right now. He tried to put himself in Sasuke's shoes. He probably wouldn't react much better if it was Hinata that had been abducted, but he knew that Sasuke would stop him from doing anything crazy. And that's just what Naruto was doing for the teme now.

"Don't do anything stupid, Sasuke," the blonde said, firmly as he closed his hand and jabbed a finger into Sasuke's chest on the right side, causing him to turn around.

"Thank you Naruto," Tsunade replied as the Uchiha stood stoically facing her. "You can't go out looking for Sakura by yourself. That's why I've assembled a team of four to go with you--."

"Why four? We won't need that many. Naruto and I can handle it by ourselves," the Uchiha objected.

"I would hate to lose two of my strongest ninja because of your foolishness, Sasuke Uchiha. Besides, Itachi is a member of Akatsuki and Naruto is the container of the nine-tailed fox which they are desperately searching for. You're lucky that I'm letting him go with you at all."

Sasuke did not reply. What she said was true, and he knew it. He grunted in agreement and there was a long silence. Finally he asked, "Who else are you sending?"

"I've decided to send Tenten, Neji, Shikamaru, and Hinata along with you. You all seem to work fairly well on missions together and if you run into trouble, you should be able to handle the situation accordingly. Just remember, you are not on a mission to destroy Akatsuki. This is solely a rescue mission, so make Sakura's safety your top priority. No chasing after Itachi, understood? You'll have plenty of time to do that after Sakura is safely inside the walls of Konoha," Tsunade said in a business tone, stressing the part about Itachi.

Despite the thoughts that were running through his mind of slaughtering his brother, Sasuke nodded. For the second time in his life, he would have to put Sakura's safety before his own pride. His love for the pink-haired woman would have to over weigh his hatred toward his brother.

**End: I hate stopping the chapter there, but this has been a long wait and the chapter itself is quite long—almost 2500 words! I'm really sorry for the delay, but please don't be cruel and not leave a review. How will I know if my readers are still alive if I don't get any reviews? **


End file.
